Christmas Comes but Once a Year
by Sophia Hawkins
Summary: "The Christmas spirit's still there," Hannibal told him, "It's just gotten buried under everything else." Murdock was quiet for a minute, then he said to the Colonel, "Maybe then it's time somebody dug it up again."
1. Chapter 1

Christmas Comes But Once a Year

It was mid December and the night before Murdock was due back at the V.A. hospital. He was spending the night at Hannibal's apartment and the two men had made themselves comfortable in front of the TV for an all night Christmas movie marathon on one of the cable channels. All movies that they'd seen before, but they never seemed to get old, and that was no easy feat, on the schedule that night were three different versions of 'A Christmas Carol', two from the 1930s and one from the 1950s, followed by 'Holiday Affair' and 'It Happened on Second Avenue'.

"It's a nice change of pace from all those 'It's A Wonderful Life' marathons anyway," Hannibal told the captain, "I saw it once a long time ago and once was enough for me. I like James Stewart, I _like_ Capra, and they made wonderful films together, but that one, once was enough. Tell you the truth, I _still_ don't get what the big deal was about with it."

Murdock just continued to stare at the screen with a big grin on his face like he was in a trance. After a little while his expression changed and he said to the Colonel, "They used to be so simple, didn't they, Colonel?"

"What did?" Hannibal asked as he took out a new cigar and got ready to light it.

"Christmas movies," Murdock said as he watched the screen, "Full of heart and sentiment, _not_ like today, is it?"

"I suppose not," Hannibal replied.

"Just like," the captain added, "Christmas in itself used to be so simple compared to now, didn't it?"

"I suppose so," Hannibal said, "I remember we actually used to take a break from holidays between Thanksgiving and Christmas, today they don't seem to believe in breathing space."

"Back then commercialism was in its infancy, _not_ like now when it's a full scale invasion," Murdock said, "Used to be you only got stuff for your closest loved ones and everybody else understood, _now_ you're expected to buy expensive things that nobody cares about for every single person you merely know, _or_ just for the sake of giving something you're expected to give something so tacky you wouldn't send it to your worst enemy as an ironic way to say 'I like you, have a nice time'."

"Like those rubber bouncing brick fruitcakes to the mailman," Hannibal agreed, then thought of something, "Which reminds me, I need to get a package sent out for Decker."

"Christmas just isn't like it used to be, is it?" Murdock asked, "Used to be you get a bunch of people together, a little music, a few decorations, a little food, and that was enough. Didn't used to matter if nobody had much of anything, get everybody together and it was enough. Now everything's so complicated, _exact_, scheduled, detailed, every minute planned out, what happened?"

"The spirit's still there," Hannibal told him, "It's just gotten buried under everything else."

Murdock was quiet for a minute as he watched the movie, then he said to the Colonel, "Maybe then it's time somebody dug it up again."

Hannibal nodded in like but didn't say anything, instead he returned his attention to the black and white movie playing on the TV. These were the movies he grew up on and they _did_ make the season a little more festive than they otherwise already were.

"I remember at Christmas Eve," Murdock said a while later, not really talking _to_ Hannibal, just talking, "Our nearest neighbors would come over, everybody bring something for pot luck, sit around, eat, visit, they made us kids put on little shows for the grownups, dress us up like shepherds, the 3 wise men, _everything_, sing songs, do funny dances, they all thought it was the funniest thing they'd ever seen…course Grandpa's rum punch probably helped them reach that conclusion." He closed his eyes and tipped his head back and recalled, "Good punch. Oranges, limes, lemons, cranberries, all frozen for the punch. Rum punch, rum balls, rum cake, fruitcake with brandy, eggnog, funny, people sure don't mind giving kids alcohol at Christmastime, it's in _all_ the goodies…well almost, Granny never put any in the cookies…oh, I remember one year, she tried making plum pudding, you know there ain't any plums in it? Kind of like a fruitcake, but worse. Fruitcake made from bread pudding, _lot_ of bread in it…then you put holly on top, pour brandy on it, set the pudding on _fire_, and it _doesn't_ burn the holly…" he turned to Hannibal and asked, "They make asbestos out of holly?"

Hannibal just shrugged. "How was it?"

"Awful," Murdock shook his head, "Like I said, worse than fruitcakes, 'singing in the copper', be lucky if the pudding doesn't _eat_ the copper."

Hannibal sat back in his chair and laughed.

"Course as I recall, nobody really _liked_ the fruitcake either, they just ate it because there was brandy in it," Murdock said, "Least I think that's why."

Hannibal remained reserved. His father always said his mother couldn't cook worth a darn, but he still ate it every night. She made a fruitcake that he remembered actually _liking_, he couldn't think why that was, but he could recall stuffing himself sick on it two years in a row.

"Always had lot of fun, nobody had much money and none of us got many presents, but we had everybody's company and that was enough, together we had the time of our lives and that was always the most important thing at Christmas. If you had family you spent it with them, if you _didn't_ have family you got together with your friends, even if you _did_ have family you could still be with friends. And then think today how many people don't have _anyone_ to spend it with. Backwards, it's all backwards now. Nobody should ever have to spend Christmas Eve alone."

Hannibal too could remember Christmas Eves as a kid, they were quieter than Murdock's, least of all if Murdock was actually being honest with him. That was usually anybody's guess. But the fact remained, there were no neighbors, no other kids, no party, just he and his mother and father, sitting around the living room looking at each other. They'd have a small tree, decorate it best they could, which always looked good to him. The turkey would be in the oven for the big meal the next day, Christmas Eve dinner was usually light; both, his mother had told him, to appreciate the poor at Christmas and what they have to endure with no big feast with which to take advantage of as they did, _and_, so he wouldn't already be halfway stuffed when he decided to gorge himself on the jar of hard Christmas candies they set on the table for him. Oh but he spent the night ogling his presents, his hands just itching to start ripping into some paper and find out what toys he'd gotten.

Later on in the night, his parents worked together in concocting some kind of Christmas punch, two parts champagne and one part soda pop as best as he could recall, he never knew for sure. It had a lot of bite to it whatever it was. Then usually, they'd either sit around listening to his father retell the story of 'A Trap for Santa Claus', an old D.W. Griffith film he'd seen many years before Hannibal was even born, and before his parents had even married, even before they'd met, _or_, in the later years, they'd turn on the radio and listen to a Christmas Eve broadcast of A Christmas Carol, and in the years later than that they'd listen to the Christmas programs of Gracie Allen and George Burns, Jack Benny, Fibber McGee and Molly, all the greats. It was a quiet celebration but a happy time, and he always knew first thing in the morning he'd be _ripping_ into those packages, finding out once and for all what it was he got; whereas he spent the whole night before just looking at them and trying to figure it out, the suspense was great, but it wouldn't last for long and he always knew it.

The movie marathon finally ended around 3 o' clock in the morning, Hannibal turned the TV off and the two men went to bed. The next day Murdock went back to the V.A. as usual, and it was everybody to themselves again. The day was slow and uneventful. Hannibal went to bed that night alone, tired, desperately trying to sleep, but his mind wouldn't let him. The little voices inside of his head were racing around at warp speed, saying things that part of them made sense, part of them didn't, part of them were things other people had already said and some of them were his own thoughts. But among them all were things that Murdock had said to him the night before when he was at the apartment. They seemed to repeat themselves, and in the midst there were also thrown quotes that he had long since heard on screen, and read in print, many times over the years at Christmastime courtesy of Charles Dickens.

"_They used to be so simple, didn't they, Colonel?"_

"_Full of heart and sentiment, not like today, is it?"_

"_Christmas in itself used to be so simple compared to now."_

"_Used to be you get a bunch of people together, a little music, a few decorations, a little food, and that was enough. Didn't used to matter if nobody had much of anything, get everybody together and it was enough."_

_The noise in this room was perfectly tumultuous, for there were more children there, than Scrooge in his agitated state of mind could count; and, unlike the celebrated herd in the poem, they were not forty children conducting themselves like one, but every child was conducting itself like forty. The consequences were uproarious beyond belief; but no one seemed to care; on the contrary, the mother and daughter laughed heartily, and enjoyed it very much._

"_Always had lot of fun, nobody had much money and none of us got many presents, but we had everybody's company and that was enough, together we had the time of our lives and that was always the most important thing at Christmas. If you had family you spent it with them, if you didn't have family you got together with your friends, even if you did have family you could still be with friends. And then think today how many people don't have anyone to spend it with. Backwards, it's all backwards now."_

"_There are some upon this earth of yours," returned the Spirit, "who lay claim to know us, and who do their deeds of passion, pride, ill-will, hatred, envy, bigotry, and selfishness in our name, who are as strange to us and all our kith and kin, as if they had never lived. Remember that, and charge their doings on themselves, not us."_

""_Business!" cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. "Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!" "It is required of every man," the Ghost returned, "that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellowmen, and travel far and wide; and if that spirit goes not forth in life, it is condemned to do so after death. It is doomed to wander through the world—oh, woe is me!—and witness what it cannot share, but might have shared on earth, and turned to happiness!"_

"_Nobody should ever have to spend Christmas Eve alone."_

In an instant, all fatigue had escaped the Colonel. His eyes opened wide, and he shot up in his bed, and said to himself as an idea suddenly hit upon him, "He's absolutely right!"

Reaching for the phone by his bed, Hannibal dialed Murdock's room number at the V.A. It took a couple times for the captain to answer, and when he did, it was with a tremendous yawn, followed by a groggy, "Ocean bottom, Davy Jones speaking."

"Reflex, this is Hammer," Hannibal said, feeling chock full of energy now, "I have a brilliant idea."


	2. Chapter 2

Murdock just _had_ to stay with Face this weekend. Hannibal had insisted Murdock be out for the remainder of the month so they could spend Christmas together; all good and well, but _where_ was Murdock going to stay for the night? He'd already stayed with Hannibal last time, and B.A. was an obvious no, so that meant it was Face's turn, and he knew it was a bad idea, and he became more convinced of that with every passing minute. Oh it had been fine in the daytime, in the afternoon, at dinner, but it just went on and on. Murdock was more wired than the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center, it didn't matter how late in the night it got, he showed no signs of being tired, and was just as hyper as he had been when he first came over to the Lieutenant's latest scammed penthouse apartment.

Eventually Face just had to excuse himself and go to bed, it didn't bother Murdock, he stayed up wide awake in the living room, scribbling things on a little notepad and watching one of the lower channels rerun 'Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol'. The night dragged on, and through the bedroom walls Face could still hear Murdock, doing who knew what by that point. The hours dragged slowly, and all through the night Face had _still_ been able to hear the records the pilot was playing from somewhere in the penthouse. How many times could a person listen to 'The Carol of the Bells' in one night? And Murdock had replayed 'The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies' so many times, that Face had actually fallen asleep at one point and dreamt he was a ballerina on stage during The Nutcracker, decked out complete in slippers, tights, pink tutu and all, sweeping across the stage on his toes and flailing his arms in the air. This was the last time Murdock was spending the night at _his_ place.

And then suddenly, an earthquake! Everything was shaking! Face woke up and realized Murdock was jumping on the bed trying to wake him up, and clearly it had worked.

"Get up, Face!" Murdock told him, "We gotta get out to the grocery store, we've got a lot of shopping to do!"

"Shopping?" he tiredly asked as he tried to fully wake up.

"Come on, Face!" Murdock said as he grabbed the half awake man and pulled him out of the bed, "It's only one more week until Christmas, _everybody's_ out shopping!"

"What's going on?" Face wanted to know.

"Don't you remember?" Murdock asked.

Face tried, and slowly it came back to him.

* * *

><p>Last month they had come back from a big job that involved rescuing a billionaire's three grown daughters who had been kidnapped by terrorists hiding out in the Congo. It had been a long, tireless, miserable trip, but it had been worth it, they got the women back unharmed, and the A-Team was suddenly one million dollars richer. Face had to pinch himself. And <em>now<em> Hannibal announced there were plans for a portion of those finances, how much portion he hadn't said, Face just knew that Hannibal had given the order pull all stops with the money this time.

"Gentlemen," he'd said to them, "There is no crime in being humble, it is in fact a most commendable act."

"Amen to that," B.A. had grunted.

"But there _is_ however," Hannibal had added, "A _great_ sin in sitting on more money than you need, and putting it to no use where it's needed."

"Evil isn't just the things you do, it's the things you don't do," Murdock paraphrased.

"That is right," Hannibal said, "And with that said, there is a _massive_ sin in sitting on a hoard of money, and only putting it to all out use towards people who _don't_ need it, and _not_ using it to go all out for people who not only need it, but who actually _deserve_ it. And that's what we're going to do this time, we're pulling all the stops, we're going all out, we are going to be every bit extravagant and eccentric and out of proportion as all those two faced millionaires who drink themselves to sleep on $500 bottles of wine and stock their garages with 20 sports cars. Except that _we_ are going to appropriate those funds towards the people who will benefit most from their use. Face, you and Murdock are going to get together on this one, we need everything: a tree, the biggest one you can find, lights, colorful ones, decorations, _good_ ones, nothing tacky, silver garland, a dozen boxes of tinsel, the biggest star there is. And then I want you to pick up all the traditional food for Christmas: turkey, ham, apples, nuts, popcorn, oranges…"

"Fruitcake too, Colonel?" Murdock asked.

"Get it all," Hannibal said, and to Face, "And get whatever we're going to need for drinks, get champagne, the stuff you scam for yourself, get the best there is, and get plenty of it, and wine, all kinds."

"What about…" Murdock started to ask, but Hannibal seemed to be reading his mind.

"Rum too, Murdock, I'm trusting you to recreate your grandmother's rum punch, and when in doubt, use everything."

"Oh boy," Face hit himself in the side of the head. He leaned over to B.A. and asked him, "Do you get what's going on?"

B.A. just shook his head and kept his eyes on their kook of a Colonel.

"Do you mind if I ask what this is all for, Hannibal?" Face asked as he raised his voice enough for everyone to hear him.

"What it's for, Face, is that we're going to have a Christmas party," Hannibal answered gleefully with a knowing smirk on his face.

"Is that all?" Face asked.

"That's _all_!" Hannibal said in a grandstanding manner, "We're going to throw the biggest Christmas party anybody's ever seen, and the most _important_ one there's ever been."

"Uh," Murdock raised his hand and said, "It sounds like we're going to have a big turnout, Colonel."

"Indeed we are, Captain!"

"Then there's the question of location," Murdock said, "Now I figured since Face is already always scamming large fancy mansions for himself…"

"Hey!" Face took offense at that.

Murdock ignored him and finished what he was trying to say, "Then it shouldn't be any trouble for him to scam one more that we can all hole up in and nobody will notice, it certainly won't be any trouble for us to clean up after ourselves when the party's through."

"That thought already entered my mind, Murdock," Hannibal said, "And it's certainly an option to keep open for future times."

"Future ti…you mean we're going to do this more than once?" Face asked.

"Face," Hannibal got up close to the younger man, clapped a hand on the Lieutenant's shoulder, and said to him, "We should've been doing this in the first place, if all goes well, I see no reason why we cannot or _should_ not do it every year from now on."

"But where're we gonna do it, Hannibal?" B.A. asked.

"The holidays don't cut us any slack where the government is concerned," Hannibal said as he walked around the room with his hands behind his back, "That's why you can't ever get home to visit your mother for Christmas, B.A., because Decker and the MPs and the likes of all of them are still going to be out there looking for us any place we _might_ be likely to go, any place there's a reasonable chance we might risk showing up. So then the question becomes, where is the one place they would _never_ think to look for us?"

"Oh no," Face shook his head, "Forget it, Hannibal, _uh-uh!_ No! I am _not_ going to help you throw a Christmas party at Fort Bragg!"

"_No_, Face!" Hannibal told him, "Think closer, more local."

"At Colonel Decker's house?" Face asked.

"No, but you're close," Hannibal grinned.

"At Colonel Lynch's house?" Murdock asked.

"Murdock!" Face said to him, "He's been _off_ our case for the last two years, _he'll_ be _at_ his home for Christmas."

"Oh," Murdock said.

"No, no, what I did," Hannibal told the others, "Was do some checking on how the military interweaves currently. Decker takes his orders from a higher up man named General Bullen, and General Bullen just so happens to be off on vacation this Christmas, and has shut up his own home and gone off for a three week retreat in Hawaii."

"Well Mele Kalikimaka, but you don't mean!"

"Yes, Face," Hannibal said with a large grin, "We're going to throw our Christmas party in General Bullen's home while he's away this Christmas season."

Face's eyes rolled back in his head and he fainted and hit the floor.

"What's his problem?" Murdock asked the Colonel.

* * *

><p>This announcement had kept Murdock busy with a project of spending two days working on a shopping list of everything they were going to need, and Face already knew they were going to pay dearly for this idea, whatever it was. Still not quite awake, he got dressed, got the money they'd need at the store, he had <em>no<em> idea how much they'd need so had taken the liberty of getting it all in 100s, and went with Murdock out to the car and they headed to the first store on their stop. They got a cart and Murdock let Face push it while he took out his list that nearly touched the floor when it unraveled and he read off all the items they would need.

"10 big turkeys, 5 hams…"

"Murdock," Face said, "I'm going to talk to the meat department about getting a delivery made for _that_ stuff," save his back the hernia of pushing it all around the store and then loading and unloading the car, "What _else_ do we need?"

Murdock scrolled down, "Cranberry sauce, stuffing mix, potatoes, _lot_ of potatoes, apples, grapefruits, oranges."

"How many?" Face asked.

"A lot," Murdock said, "We need a crate of oranges."

"A _crate_?" Face repeated as he stopped with the cart in his tracks.

"You're right," Murdock nodded, "It's not enough, _two_ crates!"

"Oh brother," Face groaned.

"Mixed nuts, potato chips, Chex mix, cookies, boxes of candy: chocolates, chocolate cherries, ribbon candies, old fashioned candies, candy canes, spice drops."

"Murdock, _nobody_ eats spice drops," Face reminded him as he started pushing the cart again.

"Well it's traditional," Murdock said, "We also need popcorn."

"What kind?" Face asked as he stopped again.

"What kind what?" Murdock asked.

"What _kind_ of popcorn? Just the kernels, microwave, those tins they put out with 3 flavors, what?"

"The list just says popcorn."

"Murdock, _you_ wrote the list, can't you remember?"

Murdock shook his head, "Hannibal didn't specify, so we'll just get some of everything, can't have too much stuff. And _then_, then Faceguy, we gotta go to a toy store and get a lot of toys, and we gotta get a lot of paper and tape to wrap them all up."

"What?" Face asked, "And put the holiday gift wrappers out of their fine line of work?" he shook his head, "Forget it."

"Face," Murdock told him, in a slightly firmer tone now, "We don't have time to stand around waiting for them all to get wrapped by somebody else, I got a whole list here!" He took a second list out of his pocket and it unraveled too and went down towards Murdock's knees.

"What's on _that_ list?" Face was dreading knowing the answer.

Murdock started skimming off the top of it, "Baby dolls, laser guns, princess dolls, toy instruments, board games, remote control airplanes and tanks, building blocks, toy cars, toy trucks, toy bulldozers, cap guns, toy trains…"

"Murdock," Face said to the pilot, "_Who_ are all those for anyway?"

"Well I don't rightly know," Murdock tucked the list back in his bomber jacket, "But the first idea off the top of my head would be _kids_."

"I _know_ that!" Face told him, "_Whose_ kids?"

Murdock just shrugged his shoulders.

"Who's coming to this party anyway?" Face asked, "Nobody's told me yet."

"Lot of people, that's all I know for sure," Murdock told him.

Face scratched the side of his head and said to himself, "I wonder what's going through Hannibal's mind…then again I probably don't want to know. I can't believe that we're going to break into a g…"

"Shhhh!" Murdock clapped a hand over the Lieutenant's mouth, "Not in public, Faceguy, you know that."

"I can't believe," Face repeated in an exasperated whisper, "That Hannibal is seriously considering breaking into a general's house to spend Christmas in."

"I think it's a brilliant idea," Murdock said, then something occurred to him, "Hey!"

"Now _you_ shhh!" Face told him, "What is it?"

"That's that movie we were watching the other night," Murdock said.

"What movie?" Face asked.

"It Happened on Second Avenue, that was a good movie, I liked it," Murdock said, "I haven't seen that in many years."

"Second Avenue…" Face's eyes bugged wide open and his eyebrows lifted, "That's where all the bums invaded the millionaire's house."

"Not _bums_, Face, homeless GIs who served their country, _and_ their wives and children," Murdock replied.

"Oh _great_!" Face said, "We'll pulling all stops, making a 12 course dinner in a General's home for a bunch of winos?" Murdock looked at him and Face realized he'd really stuck his foot in his mouth this time, then he calmed down and said, "We're going to need dessert too, let's see if we can get some Christmas cakes from the bakery section."

"Now you're talking," Murdock said, beaming from ear to ear, "It's a plan, Faceman."


	3. Chapter 3

"What kind of place does this General Bullen even live at?" Face asked, "I've never even heard of the guy, how'd you find out where he lives?"

"You can find out anything you have a mind to, Face," Hannibal replied as he drove them towards their destination, "When you put your mind to it, and know where to go snooping around."

"Well it's gotta be a big place if we' gonna go through with this party," B.A. said, "Question is _how_ big?"

"Apparently Army _generals_ get paid very well," Hannibal chose as his answer.

"Maybe too well?" Murdock suggested.

"Maybe it's not the army that's funding the place," Face said, "Maybe Bullen's got his fingers in another pot that's keeping him well tended to."

"I wish we'd hurry up and get there," B.A. said, and turned towards Hannibal and said, "I don't like you driving my van."

"Now why's that?" Hannibal asked.

"Because you always messing with things that oughta be left alone," B.A. said, "You lost my tools, man!"

"I _borrowed_ them to get into Cal Cutter's building undetected and besides, B.A., that was 3 years ago."

"And you drove my van head on off a dock and sunk it!"

"We _had_ to do that to get away from Colonel Decker when he first found us, you remember that," Hannibal said, "_You're_ the one who crashed it through a billboard, _and_ a roadblock, _several_ roadblocks."

"And you always knocking me out and putting me on planes!" B.A. told him.

"Here we go again," Face said as he covered his ears.

"WHAT!?" Murdock asked as he already had his fingers plugged into his own ears.

"B.A., _none_ of that has any emphasis on my abilities as a driver," Hannibal said, "You're not the only one here who knows _how_ to drive a van you know."

"I don't care," B.A. told him, "It's _my_ van, and I don't like anyone messing with it. Bad enough this crazy fool drove it off a bridge, and put _bricks_ under the seat! Why'd he do that?"

"WHAT?" Murdock asked.

B.A. turned and did a double take and slapped Murdock on the head and told him, "Take your fingers out your ears, you crazy fool!"

"OW! WHAT?" Murdock asked.

"Is this that wonderful Christmas spirit I'm always hearing so much about?" Face leaned forward and asked Hannibal.

"It is in _this_ unit," Hannibal replied, then his eyes perked up, "Aha! There it is, there's the place up ahead!"

"Wow!" Murdock said as he felt his eyes bug out as far as they could.

Face and B.A. looked ahead too, and their reactions were quieter than Murdock's, but the sentiment was all more or less the same. The house they just pulled up at was not particularly fancy in appearance, but it was _huge_, three stories tall and looked like 3 snazzed up Brownstones pushed together into one.

"Wha-wha-what're we looking at here?" Face asked, suddenly very interested, "What is it, about 20 bedrooms in a place like this?"

"25," Hannibal corrected him, "Five bathrooms, and a _basement_ built into the bottom of it, quite livable down there as well, could easily fit 10 more or so."

"How do you know all this?" Face asked.

"The same way," Hannibal answered, "That I know no armed guards are going to come up and bust us, nor will we be caught on the place's security cameras…"

"How _do_ you know that, Hannibal?" B.A. asked.

"Because the guards don't turn out unless an alert comes in from the security system, and the whole security system went down last night when the power mysteriously went out."

"And pray tell, _how_ did it go out?" Face asked.

"It's very simple when you throw a breaker," Hannibal answered.

"That would mean you were already _in_ the house," B.A. pointed out, "How'd you do _that_ without anyone noticing?"

Hannibal just shrugged and replied, "Who's going to suspect a lowly old Chinese gardener who needs to use the kitchen for a glass of water?"

B.A. snorted and said, "Hannibal, you keep playing that Chinese card too much one day somebody' gonna figure you out."

"I've been doing it for 13 years and nobody has _yet_," Hannibal felt a need to point out.

"You don't even _look_ Chinese," B.A. told him.

"Neither did Paul Muni," he replied, "People still bought it."

"Scarface as a Chinese man?" Face asked and shook his head, "They didn't buy it because it was convincing, just because they liked him. _You're_ not that likeable, Hannibal."

"Alright then," Hannibal wasn't fazed by that insult, "It worked for Warner Oland too."

"And if that fails," Murdock chimed in, "It also worked for Peter Lorre, remember Mr. Moto?"

"_He_ was Japanese, not Chinese," Face pointed out.

"What's the difference?" Murdock asked.

Face smacked himself and said, "And _now_ we're getting into 'Quincy' territory."

"Alright, that's enough out of everybody, now come on, we've got to get in there and get the power back on, the food's _not_ going to keep much longer," Hannibal told them.

"How _much_ food?" Face asked as they piled out of the van.

"Enough to last through a nuclear winter," Hannibal answered.

"Hell, Hannibal, if there's _that_ much food in the house, why'd we have to get all those groceries?" Face wanted to know.

"Because, Lieutenant, the idea is that when General Bullen comes back from his vacation, he is to have _no_ idea whatsoever that his house was inhabited while he was gone for the month," Hannibal explained slowly as though to a dull witted child.

"Hannibal," Murdock spoke up, "This General married?"

"Not as far as I know."

"He got any kids?" Murdock asked.

"I doubt it."

"Generals don't have _that_ many friends, they sure don't get that many houseguests," Murdock pointed out, "So _what_ does an Army general need a house _this_ big for?"

"And _how_ can he afford it?" Face added.

"That's none of our concern," Hannibal said, "All that is, is that he's gone and we're here and the house is at our disposal and we are going to use the man's home, his showers, his beds, his living room, and we're going to have a tremendous Christmas party here, and when it's all over we're going to put everything back the way it was and be on our merry way."

"Yeah but Hannibal," Face tried to point out, "When he comes back you don't think he's not going to notice his security cameras being off for a week, not to mention the sudden _surge_ in his power and water bills?"

"_That_ will not be tied back to us as long as we cover our tracks," Hannibal insisted, "The good general can scratch his head all he wants on _that_ matter but he won't have any reason in the world to suspect we had anything to do with it, so long as everybody understands the rules."

"The door unlocked?" Face asked.

"No," Hannibal answered.

Face did a double take and grumbled under his breath, "Guy kills all the power but doesn't remember to unlock the door."

"What was that, Lieutenant?"

"Nothing," Face answered as he caught up with the others up on the porch.

"Ooh!" Murdock raised his hand and said, "I want to try picking the lock, I've been practicing."

"We'll be standing around here all night," Face said as he pushed past the others, "_I'll_ do it."

"About time," Hannibal told him.

Face reached up his sleeve and retrieved a choice pick and in two seconds he had the bolt budging and they showed themselves in.

And inside it was even more spectacular than on the outside. Each room could easily hold 20 people, working through the rooms one by one they saw that the dining room had a table large enough to seat close to 20 in itself, and a shiny black grand piano over towards the wall. Face couldn't resist lifting the lid and tickling the ivories. Nicely tuned, he just _loved_ a tuned piano.

"Keep moving Lieutenant," Hannibal told him, "We're not done yet."

The living room was even larger than the dining room and had two full sized couches, an antique loveseat, and several chairs in varying degrees of furniture style, with small inn tables standing here and there between so guests would have a place to set down their drinks. A large fireplace took up most of the southernmost wall, all nicely cleaned, all, Murdock noted, for some small pieces of burnt debris still in the fireplace. Obviously it had been used _recently_, but just _how_ recently was anybody's guess. It wasn't particularly cold for this time of the year yet, but a festive fire always helped boost the holiday spirits as he well remembered. But he didn't think Generals _had_ Christmas spirit.

"You wouldn't even need bedrooms," Face noted as he looked around the room in awe, "You could put everybody on the floor in here to sleep and they'd all fit."

"It's a definite possibility and one we _will_ have to take into consideration _after_ we get a good look at the rooms upstairs," Hannibal told him, "But we're not finished yet, let's keep moving. Onto the kitchen."

And what a kitchen it was; two ovens and stoves, a restaurant sized triple sink, two large refrigerators, two dishwashers, and three large china cabinets built into the walls that were filled to the brim with plates, bowls, saucers, cups, the works. Enough dishes to easily accommodate 50 people without anyone getting shorted. To top it all off, the kitchen was perfectly immaculate, it didn't look like it had ever been used.

"I wonder what kind of food the General keeps around here," Murdock said as he went over to the two refrigerators, "I'm hungry."

"Murdock!"

"That _does_ bring me to something else," Hannibal said, "Follow me."

He led the others to a room behind the kitchen, a small, narrow hallway that led to two doors. Past one door was a large walk-in freezer, and the ice-riddled shelves were stacked to the brim with bundles of meat, all kinds of meat: hamburger, steak, pork chops, large boneless roasts, leg of lamb roasts, prime rib beef, 20 pound packs of brisket meat, whole fryer chickens, large turkeys, duck, goose meat, spiral hams. Face whistled in astonishment and watched as every note of the whistle turned into a white cloud rising above his head and then disappearing into the air.

"There's gotta be 200 pounds of meat here, at least," Face said.

"More than that," Murdock observed, "Lots of frozen vegetables, _fresh_ frozen vegetables, must've had the cook blanch it all." He picked up a gallon bag and let out a similar whistle when he saw it was asparagus stalks as thick around as magic markers and taller than a ruler.

"Fish too," B.A. told them and pointed out a shelf that contained no less than a dozen lobster tails, then three large boxes of crab meat, followed by large cuts of salmon and bags of colossal sized shrimp.

"A guy could live off of the food in here for the rest of his life," Face said in awe and wonder.

"That's not all," Hannibal shook his head, "Follow me."

They left the freezer and went over to the second door, Hannibal opened it and let everybody else step in. This room was chilly too, chilly, but not arctic, not freezing. This room was a labyrinth of floor to ceiling shelves and bins and drawers that were filled to the brim with food of all sorts, and drinks; the whole bottom row of the shelf running the length of three shelves was an extensive wine rack half full of chilled bottles just waiting to be used. Past that a standing row of bottles of the harder stuff. And past that, a few cases of assorted sodas. And on the shelves above, everything from coffee, to boxes of tea bags, to pickled onions in their jars, to mineral water, to caviar, and from there a wide menagerie of artichoke hearts, cooking wines, a gallon jar of green olives, varying kinds of steak sauce, marinade sauce, tarter sauce, salad dressing, seasonings, spices.

"What I believe people used to refer to as a larder back when pantries were for keeping the food cold as well as stored out of sight and out mind," Hannibal said, "Rich people could always afford the coldest ones to keep their food fresh the longest over everyone else, evidently that's one thing that hasn't changed. Look at how much stuff this guy's keeping locked up in here, and this room's big enough to store even more in."

"Ewwww," Face said as he picked up a jar of small round shriveled reddish purple things, "What is _this_?"

"Imported," Hannibal said simply, and explained, "It's Japanese."

"Pickled plums," Murdock said and made an exaggerated 'mm-mm' sound, the kind of sound in the kind of tone a person might make if they were given a bowl of mud to eat.

"Sort of," Hannibal told the pilot, "Except they're closer to apricots than plums."

"Well it still looks gross," Face said as he put the jar back on the shelf, "It looks like alien body parts."

"This coming from a man who would eat this," Murdock said as he picked up a small jar of caviar, "Because it's a status symbol." He looked down at the jar and pouted, "Poor fisheys, they lose all their babies and what's worse they don't even get a proceed of the profits off of them."

"Why would anybody want those?" Face asked Hannibal, ignoring the pilot's comment entirely.

"They're supposed to be _very_ good for hangovers," Hannibal said, "And by the looks of this guy's liquor cabinet, he probably needs all the help he can get in that department."

"And we're not to touch _any_ of this food for the party?" Face asked.

"Not if it can be helped," Hannibal told him, "And anything we do, we'll have to replace it _as_ we found it."

"So that means," Murdock said to Face, "No touching the pickled plums."

"No _problem_," Face replied, "Yuck."

"Hey Hannibal," B.A. spoke up, "How'd you have time to check all this out and nobody got suspicious?"

"I told you I came in for a drink after working in the garden out back," Hannibal said, and added simply, feigning innocence, "I got lost."

"Sure, sure," B.A. grunted.

"Well, the guards bought it," Hannibal said.

"Yeah but how's all the food staying cold, and how is the freezer still frozen if you shut the power off?" Face asked.

"It's a wonder what can happen if you don't open the door, isn't it?" Hannibal asked smugly, "Besides, I'd already cranked the cooling up to full blast before killing the power so it had longer to keep going on nothing. The freezer, cold enough that nothing could thaw out, and _this_ room, cold enough to keep everything chilled but not to the point anything would have time to freeze, otherwise the soda would've exploded."

"Will wonders never cease?" Face asked sarcastically.

"Hey, come on," Hannibal told them, "We still have to check out the upstairs."


	4. Chapter 4

"25 bedrooms, a double bed in each room, queen and king sized in some, a couch in some rooms in addition to the bed," Face said in amaze as they wrapped up the grand tour, "How many people could you possibly fit in this house to sleep?"

"However many it is," Murdock told him, "Somehow I doubt we'll get the full amount."

"Alright, Hannibal," Face said, "So what do we do?"

"First thing's first, General Bullen already had the house cleaned before he left, but we're going to go over it again and make sure that everything is _perfect_. Once we've done that, _then_ we've got to start getting the house _ready_. We've got to bring the food over, get the tree over here, get _everything_ here, _then_ we're going to go get the people."

"About that," Face spoke up, "Exactly _who_ are we bringing and _how_ are we bringing them, and incidentally _how_ do we know they even want to come in the first place?"

"That," Hannibal told him, "Will all be in due time, Lieutenant, first we've got to get the house ready for everyone to come to. Speaking of which, I've got my own errand to run before everything's ready."

"Oh, what's that?" Face asked.

"About a mile back when we came up here," Hannibal answered as he turned around to face the others, "We passed a little charity thrift store. They're non-profit but all the same I intend to make somebody involved a very rich person." And with that, he turned back for the door and was gone.

"Typical Hannibal," Face complained, "Always talking in riddles and then you can't figure out what he means."

"I _knew_ there was a reason we got along so well," Murdock said.

"Oh brother," B.A. grumbled as he just shook his head.

"Alright, Hannibal's gone, so we gotta get to work," Murdock said, "And Hannibal said to make sure the place is cleaned up. Face, you wanna tackle the upstairs or the downstairs?"

"That's not really fair, is it, Murdock?" he asked cynically, "There are _two_ upstairs'."

"Okay then, maybe each of us can take a floor," Murdock replied, "Or, one of us can take the bedrooms, one of us will work on the bathrooms, and then…"

"I am _not_ cleaning the bathrooms," Face told him.

"Would you rather do the 25 bedrooms?" Murdock asked.

"You know what," Face said, "Let's all start on the first floor and work our way up from there."

"Works for me," Murdock nodded, and left the room.

Face turned to B.A. and said, "Can you believe it? Throwing a Christmas party _in_ the home of a General who'd like nothing more than to mount our heads over his mantel."

"That's Hannibal for you," was all the Sergeant had to say.

"You know," Face leaned over towards the larger man and said confidentially, "I think we could even get _Hannibal_ a room in at the V.A. with _this_ stunt as proof he's crazy."

B.A. just nodded in response. "Only problem is then he and that crazy fool Murdock would be together all the time, and we _don't_ need that."

"Why not?" Face asked.

B.A. gave him an 'are you nuts?' kind of look and pointed out, "First of all, Murdock don't need Hannibal encouraging his crazy jibber jabber all the time. Second of all, Hannibal don't need anymore exposure to that crazy fool than he's already getting, it's not good for him, Murdock rubs off on Hannibal enough as it is, _too_ much."

"Oh come on, B.A., don't you think it's kind of fun watching them brainstorm together?"

"Trash bags, Face?"

"Hey," Face replied, "It _worked_, didn't it?"

"That's what scares me," B.A. said, "How did Murdock know it would?"

Face only responded with, "_How_ did he talk Hannibal into it?"

* * *

><p>"I'm really glad I was able to get you to come with me, Amy," Hannibal said to the young reporter as they walked down the sidewalk towards the thrift store, "I know what I'm looking for for guys, but I need a woman's eye to pick out suitable clothes for the ladies."<p>

"I still don't get what all this is about, Hannibal," Amy told him, "What's going on exactly?"

"What's going on is that we are throwing a Christmas party for the people who need one the most," Hannibal explained, gesturing with his hands as he spoke as though that could help him better explain himself, "These are not the rich upper society snobs Face is always schmoozing and rubbing elbows with, this is not the Hollywood people I work with, this is not people like our clients even though they might enjoy it too."

"So who_ is_ it for then?" Amy asked.

"Those in need," Hannibal answered simply, "The poor and destitute, the hungry, the cold, those with kids who aren't going to get anything this year, those with no place to call home; many of our brethren who we served with in the war have since found themselves out on the streets once they returned home. Uncle Sam doesn't particularly care much about you _in_ the services, and he certainly doesn't give a damn about you when you come back home and need a new career and try to transition back to that title of civilian, impossible as it is."

"This is really hitting a nerve for you, isn't it?" Amy asked him.

"Not nearly as much as the fact that precious little is being done to help anyone who needs it because those who can are too busy helping themselves to everything they see," Hannibal said, "Murdock's been telling us part of the east wing of the V.A.'s been starting to fall apart, there's apparently not enough funding to get the repairs made, least of all not _all_ of them."

"Are you kidding?" Amy asked as Hannibal opened the door for her.

"No, it gets better," Hannibal said, "The V.A. hospital here that Murdock's in, is among the best in the state, we've done some checking, others are in far worse conditions: black mold, rats, cockroaches, the roofs falling in, nowhere near enough doctors, patients turned away and sent home to die without medical care…in the years since 'Nam, people have turned over a leaf towards supporting the veterans when they come home, so what's happening to all this support? Where is it? So, I've decided we're going to help liberate some of Murdock's friends from the hospital for a few days as well."

"More mental patients?" Amy asked.

"Not necessarily," Hannibal replied, "There are a lot of walking wounded in that hospital without families or homes of their own, it'd be nice if they could get out to a Christmas party where they're wanted for a change."

"So how do we do this?" Amy asked as she pulled a shopping cart out of a jumble of several other carts all stuck together.

"You get the women's clothes, I'll get the men's," Hannibal said, "We're looking for anything good, nothing tacky, nothing second class."

"Hannibal," Amy felt a need to point out, "This is a thrift store, _everything_ is second best."

"In name only," Hannibal remarked, "Alright, nothing third class. Get anything that you would ever wear, and grab all sizes, we don't know what all we're going to need."

Still not quite sure she got it, Amy went one way, and Hannibal went the other. After a few minutes she already had her cart half full and she took a blazer off the rack and called over to the older man, "It's really obscene, isn't it?"

"What is?" Hannibal asked.

"That people will actually pay $50 for a pair of jeans or a jacket…"

"And what's _your_ wardrobe budget, princess?" Hannibal asked.

Amy went over to Hannibal and smacked him in the back of the head, and she continued with her original comment, "Then for whatever reason, they give this overpriced stuff that's still perfectly new, to a place like this and you can get it for two bucks, what kind of sense does that make?"

"Not much but let's be grateful there _are_ people with more money than brains who could afford this stuff in the first place so _we_ can afford it _now_," Hannibal said as he looked over a heavy jacket in a size Large, "If more people actually _had_ brains, they'd come _here_ first before going to a mall and paying $300 for this kind of stuff."

"But why would anybody just give this stuff away?" Amy asked, "It all looks brand new."

"Probably because it didn't match their Mercedes," Hannibal answered, "Or it didn't fit, or it was mismarked, or because they didn't want the hassle of trying to return it to the store and didn't want to hold onto something they weren't wearing. Their loss is going to be a lot of somebody else's gain."

"So…" Amy said as she went back to sorting through the clothes on the racks, "How many people are you planning to have at the house?"

"Who bothers with numbers?" Hannibal asked, "However many want to come, however many we can fit in the house, however many we can feed, and I'm making sure we'll have enough for everyone."

"Next question," Amy said, "_How_ are you going to get a hold of all these people and invite them to the house?"

"Ever see M?" Hannibal asked.

"What?"

"Not what, M. That movie with Peter Lorre."

"Long time ago, what's that got to do with anything?" Amy asked.

"How did they get the word out about Lorre's character so everybody on the streets knew to watch for him? Through the Beggars Union."

"There is no such thing today," Amy said.

"No, but sidewalks talk, especially ones where panhandlers and homeless people frequent," Hannibal said, "And what's one more wino in the bunch going to be?"

Amy smirked and shook her head, "Hannibal Smith you are something else."

"Thank you," he smiled.

"I didn't say _what_," Amy told him.


	5. Chapter 5

"I don't care if it _is_ for a good cause, I _still_ think Hannibal's finally lost his mind," Face said as he and B.A. turned the kitchen chairs over the table so they could get the floor cleaned.

"If he had one to begin with," B.A. replied, "Sucker's _always_ gone along with whatever Murdock thinks up, can't be _too_ sane to begin with."

"I mean _what_ if something happens and this General Bullen comes back early? We're right in the lion's den and just a hair short of sticking our heads into his mouth," Face said.

"I love your metaphors, Faceguy," Murdock chimed in as he popped into the room.

"What's up, Murdock?" Face asked.

"I don't know who General Bullen has clean this house, but he can't possibly be paying them enough," Murdock said, "There's three of us here and it would take _us_ until Groundhog's Day to get the whole place cleaned _once_. Thankfully the worst of it was already done before we got here."

"Hey," B.A. thought of something, "Didn't Hannibal say this sucker's also got a basement here?"

"That's what he said," Face remembered, "But we haven't seen it yet."

"So let's go check it out," B.A. said as he headed towards a small corridor leading off from the back of the kitchen heading away from the walk-in freezer.

"I think I can safely say this is one of the _weirdest_ Christmases I've ever had," Face said as he and Murdock followed after him.

"It's not even Christmas _yet_, Face," Murdock reminded him, "There's still a lot of work to do before we even get there," he seemed to switch gears into high speed and said in a rambling pace, "So much to do, so much to do, do, stew!"

"Brother," Face grumbled to himself.

They found the door leading to the basement and showed themselves down the newly created concrete stairs. Hannibal had said the basement was large enough to fit another 10 people at least, he hadn't been kidding. The rooms were well made, new, reinforced, in one piece, and looked like the good general was planning to turn this into a war room of some sort. Shelves ran the whole length of the room, shelves filled with even more food, jugged water, ammunition, and plenty of firearms ranging from automatic pistols to military grade rifles. Over to another wall were cots and mattresses, pillows and blankets.

"Looks like this guy's definitely preparing for _something_," Face said. He looked back up the stairs and added, "Doesn't make sense though that he's got a bunker down here and that door up there wouldn't hold up against two good sized men."

"Maybe it ain't finished yet," Murdock said.

"Whatever it is, Hannibal's right," B.A. said, "If we run outta room upstairs we can put people down here, it ain't cold, it's well ventilated, got everything down here anybody would need."

"Come on, Face," Murdock grabbed the Lieutenant's arm and started jerking him back towards the stairs, "We gotta get the rest of the house tidied up before Hannibal gets back, then we can start getting stuff set up!"

"What a time," Face said, "And to think I could be spending this week instead, in Beverly Hills, rubbing elbows with the best of them and plugging them for all they're worth and they don't even know it."

"Hey Face," B.A. growled at him, "We all agreed this was the right thing to do, you got a problem with it you gonna have to take it up with me," he hovered over the smaller man and asked him, "You got a problem with this?"

"No," Face answered quickly and in a small voice, "No problem whatsoever."

"Good!" B.A. replied, "Now get moving, like the crazy fool said, we got work to do."

* * *

><p>"The biggest tree we could get measures in at just under nine feet tall," Face was explaining to Hannibal when he and Amy came back from the thrift store. The conman walked Hannibal into the living room and showed him where they'd put the tree and pointed out, "Course these high ceilings go up to about 15 feet, so we decided to put it on a crate to give it the illusion of slightly fuller size. Got a nice big star to put on the top, huge, nicely proportionate with it, we stick that baby on and we'll still have 5 feet before we have to worry about touching the ceiling."<p>

Hannibal looked the tree up and down and went around it feeling the branches, feeling the needles, testing it to see if anything fell off or poked excessively, and when he made it all the way around the tree he said, "It's nice, it's very nice, I like it!"

"Hallelujah," Face murmured under his breath.

"Where're the decorations?" Hannibal asked.

"We put them in the dining room when we unloaded the van," Face said.

"Everything there?"

"Everything's there," Face nodded and recalled, "Lights, star, garland, tinsel, bulbs, bells, you name it."

"That's fine, leave them there for now," Hannibal said, "We brought some other decorations just for the house, we'll get them up tonight and give this place a semi-homey feel to it for the first time since Bullen moved into this eyesore."

"What now?" Amy asked, already feeling somewhat exhausted having helped Hannibal load and unload the van with 20 boxes of clothes and shoes of all varying sizes they could get, just about wiping out the store's inventory entirely and leaving the shop workers very confused, winded, and with an extra $800 in their till for the day.

"We got the tree in here, we got the decorations in here, we got the clothes, we'll be bringing the food, after that we start getting the people," Hannibal said.

"Yeah but how?" Amy asked.

"And _where_?" Face added.

Hannibal chose to answer both their questions with one answer, simply, "Any way we can think of."

"Oh that really explains a lot," Face murmured to Amy.

"What was that, Lieutenant?" Hannibal asked.

"Nothing," Face answered.

"So when're you going to bring everybody here, Hannibal?" Amy asked.

"I'm figuring tomorrow," he said, "But we're going to have to really move it to get everything taken care of in time."

"Uh, Colonel," Murdock grabbed Hannibal's jacket sleeve to get his attention, "Are we going to be staying here for the night to break the place in?"

"I don't see why not," Hannibal replied, "We'll get an idea what kind of atmosphere we're putting everybody up in."

"Amy, would you like to stay the night?" Murdock asked.

The young reporter just shrugged her shoulders and said, "I don't see why not, I don't have anything planned."

"Oh goodie," Murdock rubbed his hands together like a mischievous little boy planning something.

* * *

><p>Everybody took a room to themselves for the night, every room was spacious, luxurious, and the beds were all very comfortable, what could possibly go wrong? Well, maybe not <em>wrong<em>, but even with everybody in a separate room, everybody else was still kept awake by Murdock's incessant Christmas caroling to himself down the hall all the while he test drove the springs in his bed by jumping on them the whole time he was singing.

Finally around 2 o' clock, Amy couldn't take a 13th rendition of 'The 12 Days of Christmas' and put on her robe and slippers and headed down the hall to the room Murdock was occupying for the night, and went in without even knocking. All the lights were still on, Murdock was still dressed, and _still_ hopping on the bed like a jumping bean.

"Hey Amy, you come over for a sleepover?" he asked her.

"Murdock, what're you doing?" Amy asked, "Everybody's trying to sleep."

"I can't help it, Chiquita," he said as he jumped off the bed and onto the floor, "I'm just bursting at the seams, there's so much to do and it's all happening so fast, it's so _exciting_!"

"Don't you guys usually do something for Christmas?" Amy asked him.

"Oh sure, but nothing big like this, this'll be the first time since we all came home that it's gonna be more than just the four of us," Murdock said as he went over to her, "This is gonna be terrific! It's gonna be HUGE!"

"Murdock," Amy said quietly and calmly, "It's not going to go _anywhere_ if we don't get some sleep."

But Murdock wasn't paying attention to her. Instead he went over to his nightstand and picked up something. "I'm sure glad we got you back, it's been a long time since you came back from Jakarta and we've hardly seen you since. Look'a this, I got you a present."

Murdock picked up a colorfully wrapped box just big enough he could barely palm it, but he still managed to pick it up in one hand and give it to the young reporter.

"Well thank you, Murdock…"

"Go ahead, open it," he seemed to become more frantic like a child, "Open it open it, I want to see what you think."

Why not? Amy tore the paper off and opened the lid on the small box and took out a tiny little teddy bear that she could easily hold with one hand.

"It's very nice, Murdock, thank you."

"Amy, can I ask you a brutally honest question?" Murdock asked.

"Sure, Murdock."

"What in the _world_ were you thinking sending Tawnia to us?" he asked, "You couldn't have found a nice dog instead?"

Amy was caught off guard by his question and just laughed.

"Let's face it, a dog would've been more helpful," Murdock said, "She tried to be a lot of things, and she wasn't most of them, most of all she wasn't _you_."

That took her by surprise.

"Thank you, Murdock." She had to admit, "It's good to be back."

They heard the door creak open and both turned to see Hannibal standing in the doorway, looking less than amused and he said to both of them, "I can certainly understand everybody being a little wired by what's going on, but if I hear _anymore_ noise coming from this room out of either one of you, it's going to be followed by a few verses of 'ow, ow, Ow!', understand?"

"Sorry, Hannibal," Amy said with a small giggle as she took her present and walked past him, "Goodnight!"

"Goodnight, Amy!" Murdock waved.

Hannibal turned to him, "And as for you, Captain…"

"Sorry, Colonel," Murdock took it down a notch, "I'm just hyper tonight."

"So I noticed," Hannibal replied, "Do you think you can find a quieter way to be hyper? We all have to get up in a few hours."

"Oh sure," Murdock nodded, "No problem."

"Fine," Hannibal turned around and headed for the door, "Goodnight, Murdock."

"Goodnight, Colonel!"

Quiet…quiet…what could he do to be quiet? He thought about it for a moment and considered his options. He knew, he knew. Murdock went to went over to the closet and took out a Santa Claus suit he'd taken the liberty of obtaining for the occasion. He put it on and realized he didn't have the right figure to wear this thing. He tried stuffing a pillow into the waistband of his pants and buttoning his jacket over that, still flat, he tried a second pillow, too lumpy. Then instead, he tried tightening his belt as far as he could. A skinny Santa would probably work better for the kiddies than a lopsided one. He tried on the beard and hat, his own mother wouldn't recognize him in this, scratch that, his own grandmother wouldn't recognize him. Scratch that too, his whole family wouldn't recognize him now.

Say…he wondered if he'd be able to come down the chimney during the party to surprise the kids? Well, he could at least check it out from the bottom and figure it out from there. He took his suit off, quietly left his room, headed down to the living room, plugged in the Christmas lights to give him a little illumination, and went over to the fireplace. He removed the screens and the grate and squatted down to fit in it. It was already a tight fit, he tried standing up in it and found even himself trying to fit through this chimney would be like trying to fit a basketball into a ginger ale bottle. Really _did_ make you wonder how Santa Claus managed to do it all the time?

Oh well, maybe Murdock couldn't come down the chimney after all, but he decided the least he would do is clean the fireplace out, maybe they'd _have_ a fire during the party; Hannibal had made such a point they needed to get everything else nice and clean, why would this be any different?

Murdock hummed a little Christmas tune to himself as he swept the fireplace clean, some soot, ashes, and a few scraps of paper that had been burnt. Messy, messy. Murdock loaded it all into a dustpan and went to find a trash can to pitch it in. Now _there_ was a fireplace any Santa Claus would be proud to land in. Hmm, he wondered if he should put a pillow down in it to ensure a soft landing? Oh well. He left the living room and went to find the trash can in the kitchen. Tomorrow would be here soon enough and they had to get ready for everybody.


	6. Chapter 6

The next morning, bright and early, Hannibal went to work getting into his makeup and costume and went about presenting himself as a very convincing wino. Then he headed down to the lesser popular parts of town and quickly fit in with the real street people, and very quickly set to work passing the word around about a place he knew of that was having an open house for people like themselves. He even gave them a time and place in which he was planning to head over himself, and would anybody else like to join them?

"The owner and I get along real well," he told them, "We're like that," and crossed two of his fingers, just not the right ones, "We knew each other back in 'Nam, a real swell guy, going all out to help anybody who was in need of a nice Christmas this year. I'm hardly in any position to turn down a nice meal and a place to clean up and sleep, and he promises this is going to be an event for the ages. Can't see any sense in turning him down, who wants to spend Christmas alone? And why _not_ spend it in a place where there'll be plenty of food and everybody can be comfortable?"

His sales pitch went as smooth as silk and it worked so well that he went from one part of the city to another, like the pied piper, spreading his word and collecting more people willing to go, especially those who had children because it meant getting them in and out of the elements for a while and giving them a chance to eat and get warm too. By noon, Hannibal had been all over town, his feet were killing him, and he'd collected over 40 people. He led them all to a bus stop, where an unmarked bus pulled up, and revealed Face was at the wheel.

"Greetings, everybody," he said, "Going to a party?"

"You could say that, son," Hannibal said, still in his wino persona, "You could say that."

"Well you're in luck," Face told them, "Because I'm here as services to one Mr. Will B. Good, who instructed me to pick up the guests for his party _right here_. Everybody aboard."

It was a tight fit, and when the last of them were on and the doors were shut, Hannibal stood at the front beside the driver and told him as much.

"What did you want, Hannibal?' Face asked, "I couldn't very well get one of the double deckers they use to cruise around Hollywood and look at celebrities' houses. _Not_ on such short notice. Besides, do you have any idea how much attention we would've drawn to ourselves _then_?"

"Just get us to the house," Hannibal told him, "Murdock went to get the guys from the V.A., we should all meet up around the same time."

"Are you _sure_ about this?" Face asked, "Are we really going to be able to fit everybody?"

"If not," Hannibal said, "We'll just sit it out."

"Ho-ho-ho," Face dryly remarked.

* * *

><p>"Ladies and gentlemen," Hannibal said as he began to shed his wino makeup piece by piece, latex extension by latex extension, and told the people on the bus, "If you will look to your right, you will see the house in which everybody will be residing from now throughout Christmas. As the bus comes to a complete stop, everybody watch your step and get off in single file, we have plenty of room, plenty of supplies, there'll be enough of everything for everyone."<p>

The people did look out the windows, and they saw the house, _and_ also a secondary bus in which several men in various stages of their lives were slowly getting out and Murdock was leading the way.

"We're here!" Hannibal called out as he was the first one off the bus.

"Perfect timing, Colonel," Murdock said as he came over to Hannibal, "I'd like you to meet everybody from the V.A.: that's Mike Sampson, Jerry Bateman, Robert Mitchell, they're among the psychiatric wing's top prize patients."

"Murdock," Hannibal said, "There'll be time for that later, right now let's just get everybody off the buses and into the house. People will feel more sociable once they've had a chance to freshen up and eat."

"Oh, sure," Murdock replied.

They heard a commotion from behind them and turned and saw one of the older men had stumbled stepping off the bus and just about fell flat on the ground, but he caught himself at the last minute. Hannibal and Murdock went up to see what was the matter.

"You alright, Mister?" Hannibal asked.

The man, who looked about 10 years older than Hannibal and his body far more well worn than the Colonel's, his skin filthy and his clothes shredding to rags, turned around slowly and said, "Reckon I lost my footing."

The man looked like he hadn't eaten in a while, Hannibal could guess just _why_ he'd lost his balance. Hannibal subtly grabbed the man's arm to keep him balanced and said, "Come on inside, we'll get you set up _real_ fine."

That sounded like a very good deal to the man. "I appreciate that very much, Mister…"

"Smith, Hannibal Smith," he grinned as he helped the older man up to the house, "A fine pleasure, Mister…"

"Deakins," the man said, "Lloyd Deakins. You a…military man, Mr. Smith?"

"Oh yeah," Hannibal answered.

The other man nodded slowly and said, "Served in Korea myself."

Hannibal turned to him and said, "Me too."

Deakins chuckled weakly and commented, "A lifetime ago."

"Oh yeah," the last 13 years alone had been a lifetime in itself for Hannibal and all of his men, "A _few_ lifetimes ago."

The older man's laugh was slightly stronger now as he chuckled and replied, "Ain't it the truth?"

"Come on," Hannibal nodded towards the front door, "We'll get you inside and get you fixed up, get _everybody_ fixed up."

"Right kindly of you, Mr. Smith," Deakins said.

"Believe me," Hannibal told him, "It's my pleasure, and much long overdue."

* * *

><p>"Okay everybody," Face said, hoping he could actually be heard over the 50 or so people who had gathered in the house, "We have 25 bedrooms in this house that are free to use, if we need more sleeping space there are some more rooms and we also have some cots down in the basement that we can bring up, there should be plenty of room for everybody. There are also 5 bathrooms so anybody that wants to freshen up, we can show you where they are, we've also taken the liberty of bringing in new clothes, anybody that's in need of any, I'm sure we have something that'll suit you, after that we'll have lunch ready for everyone and then we'll see from there what we're doing, we all hope you'll enjoy your stay here."<p>

Understandably, everybody wanted a crack at the showers first, it was decided the mothers would get their kids washed up first and they'd go on from there. While that was going on, Hannibal went to the kitchen to see how things were going there. Murdock had six large pans on the two stoves all full of potato soup; understandably after a while things had to get watered down but this stuff was rich with egg dumplings, celery, and milk thinning it all down instead of just plain water.

"How's it coming, Murdock?"

"Should be ready soon," Murdock answered as he stirred one of the pots, "Should have plenty for everybody but there definitely ain't gonna be any leftovers, probably plenty of seconds though." He scooped up a spoonful and told the Colonel, "Try this."

Hannibal knew better, he ran it under some cold water first because he knew how much heat the potatoes retained, then he salted it and tasted it.

"Oh yeah, there won't be a drop of that left," he told the Captain, "What about the rolls?"

"All in the oven, just keeping warm," Murdock said.

"How about the drinks for everyone?" Hannibal asked.

"Face is supposed to be working on them," Murdock said, "He said we're getting low on milk though."

"So put powdered milk in with it and stretch it out," Hannibal told him.

"Aye-aye, Colonel," Murdock saluted, "And if we run out of that, we'll switch to evaporated milk."

"We got some?" Hannibal asked.

Murdock nodded, "I took the liberty of buying a few cases…well the tinned cows were good enough for us in the army, weren't they?"

"And they were good enough for us as babies too, and even beyond that," Hannibal added, and recalled the old sponsor ads on television in the golden age, "With all the vitamins growing babies need and easier for their little bodies to digest, doubly safe."

"Keep it up, Colonel, and we're gonna get a letter from the Carnation company," Murdock said, and nodded, "I remember…also remember how everybody used evaporated milk to put in _everything_: mashed potatoes, meatloaf, tomato soup, pudding, grilled cheese sandwiches, remember the bread being _much_ thicker then too, the cheese as well…boy everything gets skimpier as the years pass, doesn't it? But that sure don't stop the prices from going up-up-up!"

"So it does, Captain, so it does," Hannibal said, "And that's part of the problem for these people, the more time passes, the more the cost of living goes up while salaries and incomes stay at a virtual standstill, and all of a sudden it's not the government's concern how anybody's supposed to catch up at that rate."

Murdock grumbled a few words under his breath and said more clearly, "The government don't seem to be too fond of _anybody_, does it?"

"I suppose not," Hannibal replied.

"Perfectly ironic then that our paths should happen to cross with these people's," Murdock observed.

* * *

><p>Within an hour, their houseguests looked <em>very<em> different, everybody was cleaned up and had traded in their old clothes for some of the newer ones that had been placed in the bedrooms.

"Well, that's a zebra of a different stripe," Murdock noted as he looked around at everybody, who no more now looked like they'd been living on the streets, than if they'd just come from the planet Twilar.

Everybody was gathering or trying to gather in the living room, though it was becoming a bit crowded, especially around the Christmas tree where all the children gathered, wondering when it was going to be decorated. Hannibal took it upon himself to get over to the tree and explain to the children, that with a little adult supervision for the high spots, it was going to be _their_ job to get the tree trimmed and make it look nice and pretty for when Santa Claus came to see them on Christmas Eve night. At this, the children were overjoyed and all talking over each other, all trying to be heard at the same time. Hannibal got them to quiet down and explained there was plenty of time to get the tree done, but they were going to do it that night so they could see the lights better as they got them strung up.

"Oh that's fine, Hannibal, but _how're_ we going to keep them contained all afternoon?" Face asked.

"Very simple, Face," Hannibal grinned, and poked the Lieutenant in the chest, "_You_ are going to entertain them."

"Who, me?"

"I'm sure between the two of you, you and Murdock can think of something to keep the kids occupied."

"Why can't B.A. do it?" Face asked, "He's good with the kids."

"Because I need B.A. to help me with…" Hannibal turned towards the front hall and saw Mr. Deakins quietly slipping out the door. Hannibal said to Face, "I'll be right back," and took off after the older man.

Mr. Deakins was already halfway down the sidewalk when Hannibal jumped off the porch and caught up with him, "Something the matter, Deakins?"

"Mr. Smith," the older man turned towards him and said, "I had to see this for my own eyes to know it was true, and I'm relieved to find that it was…this is a fine thing you're doing for these people," he patted the Colonel encouragingly on the shoulder and said, "Great service for those people in there…not for a wretched old con like me."

"What do you mean?" Hannibal asked firmly.

Deakins looked to him and said, "Mr. Smith you happen to be in the presence of a liar."

"Most people I'm on speaking terms with generally are," Hannibal replied, "Even _I_ tend to be one from time to time."

"You must understand, the people I frequent with, very few have had any military experience, and the ones that do are the younger generation, Vietnam, they don't know me, they don't know my kind. It's kind of nice being thought of as a hero among people, you know? When they don't know that you're a fraud. I never served in Korea…I was drafted like everybody else, and I went to join…" he shook his head, "But they wouldn't take me…outstanding health problems that they decided weren't worth the trouble of sending me halfway around the world on Uncle Sam's dime. Everybody has a story when they wind up on the street, I knew it wouldn't get me anymore sympathy but…former 'war hero' has a better ring to it than 60 year old has-been and never-was…as I'm sure you could understand."

Hannibal merely nodded slowly in response.

"I had to see for myself there were still good people left in this world willing to take a chance on those of us who through various reasons, have no place to truly call home anymore…but…I won't waste anymore of your time."

"Hold it!" Hannibal grabbed the older man by the arm and stopped him, and forced Deakins to look him in the eye as he told him, "Mister, I don't care what you were or what you weren't, I don't care if you were a door-to-door insurance salesman, what you are _now_ is our guest for the holiday, and welcome to everything we've got."

The older man seemed to be overcome by this news and he fell against Hannibal, who _just_ caught him before they _both_ went down and hit the pavement.

"Mr. Smith, you and your friends are the first people in years, outside of my own close-knit companions where you found us, who've ever given me the time of day, let alone showed me any hospitality…"

The older man started wheezing and Hannibal could see his eyes glaze over with a sudden onset of tears. Hannibal put an arm around Deakins' back to support him and led him back to the house. They got up on the porch just as the door opened and B.A. stepped out to see what was going on.

"B.A.," Hannibal said, "Will you help me get Mr. Deakins upstairs and find a room for him? I think he needs to lay down and rest for a while."

"Sure, Hannibal, sure," B.A. held the door for them to get in and then got on the other side of Deakins to help him up the stairs and told him, "Come on, Jack."

"It's Lloyd," he replied.

B.A. nodded solemnly and said, "Come on, Lloyd."

* * *

><p>Meanwhile in the living room, Murdock had gotten all the children settled down on the furniture and on the floor and he stood at the opposite end of the room, where a large fake curtain had hastily been put up to cover the doorway leading into the next room, and Murdock stood before it in his pajamas that he'd taken the liberty of putting on over his other clothes, and he told the children, "If everybody will settle down, we will now do for you a live performance of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas'." He turned to the curtain and said, "Face, come on out."<p>

"No," a voice replied from behind the curtain, and the children laughed.

"Come on, Faceguy, everybody's waiting."

"Murdock, this is humiliating."

"Face, either you come out yourself or I'm sending everybody in the audience back there to get you."

Hesitantly, the children saw the curtain part and Face stepped out dressed in a granny nightgown with matching bloomers and a rag tied over his hair, and they all broke out laughing. Face turned towards Murdock scowling and asked, "Murdock, why did _I_ have to wear this?"

"Well _somebody_ had to play mama's part, and besides, you lost the toss," Murdock explained.

"Well can we just get this over with?" Face asked.

"Okay, okay," Murdock said, and addressing the audience he recited, "Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse," and he proceeded to squeak and chatter his teeth and run his hands over his face like he was smoothing out a set of whiskers.

"Oh brother," Face murmured to himself. He was certainly for giving everybody a better Christmas, but he suddenly got the idea that this was going to be a very _long_ stay for all of them.


	7. Chapter 7

"Alright, Deakins, just take it easy," Hannibal said as he got the older man settled into one of the beds on the second floor, "You just rest now and somebody will come and get you when it's time for dinner."

Deakins breathed hard a few times as he settled on his back and he said to the Colonel, "Thank you, Mr. Smith…you have no idea how I appreciate this."

Hannibal drew the covers up on the man and when it seemed he would fall asleep very quickly, both he and B.A. quietly left the room.

Hannibal pulled the door shut behind them and turned to his Sergeant and explained, "_That_ is why we do this."

"You' right, Hannibal, for once this was actually a great plan," B.A. said.

Hannibal glared at the Sergeant through the corner of one eye at that remark, but the moment quickly passed and they headed back downstairs to see how things were going with the others.

In the living room they stumbled upon an unusual sight; Face and Murdock both tied up with Christmas lights and garland and the kids were hanging the ornaments on _them_.

"B.A., you've _got_ to let these two help out at your daycare center sometime," Hannibal said.

"That ain't funny, Hannibal," B.A. said warningly, then he pointed to the two decorated men and added, "But _that_ is," and a few high pitched giggles escaped him.

Hannibal made his way past the children and saw the two men who looked like they'd rather be _anywhere_ else in the world but here right now.

"Well guys?"

"The kids decided they wanted to practice for tonight," Murdock answered.

"I see," Hannibal said, "Well the two of you look very pretty," he noticed but ignored the murderous glare he received from his Lieutenant, and added, "But first I think I need to plug you guys in."

"Aw Hannibal, don't encourage them!" Face said.

"Too late," Hannibal smirked as he found the end of the cord and connected it with an extension cord.

The two men lit up in bright colors of red and green and blue and orange and everybody applauded and a few whooped and cheered as well. Face looked like he wanted to crawl under a rock and hide, Murdock looked like this was just status quo for him.

"I think, Face," Hannibal said, "Before this is over, we're going to get you to laugh at yourself yet."

"I wouldn't bet on it, Hannibal."

"_I_ would," he replied with a grin.

* * *

><p>Later in the afternoon, Amy came over to help, and after spending 20 minutes getting acquainted with everybody there, she went to help Murdock and Face in the kitchen, who were trying to figure out <em>what<em> they could make that would feed 50 people and roughly all within the same time frame.

"Think they'd have any objection to barbecue?" Murdock asked.

"It's a little late to put chicken and ribs on the grill, Murdock," Face pointed out.

"No no, I mean hot dogs, hamburgers, baked beans, that kind of stuff, we could get it all done relatively quickly and we could make plenty for everybody. After all we're reserving the _big_ meal for Christmas Eve, I'm sure they wouldn't mind grilled burgers and weenies for the time being."

"Another trip to the supermarket," Face groaned, "Best laid plans, _indeeeed_."

"I'll go with you, Face," Amy said.

Face huffed and told her, "I appreciate it, I knew going into this it was going to be a massive overhaul but we still didn't come _as_ prepared as we should've been."

"You two go on and I'll start figuring a way to whip up 3 gallons of potato salad," Murdock said.

"Murdock," Amy suggested, "Why don't we just get potato chips instead?"

A light bulb went off over his head, "That's a good idea, _everybody_ loves potato chips."

"There you go then," Amy said, "Be a lot quicker, a lot easier…"

"And nobody can complain about them being too lumpy," Face added.

"You'd find a way to," Amy told him, "You complain about everything. _The pancakes are too lumpy_!"

"The pancakes _are_ lumpy!" Face replied.

"The orange juice is too pulpy!" Amy recalled as they headed out the back door, _just_ pushing past Hannibal instead of colliding with him.

"Boy those two are a cute couple when they're angry," Hannibal said with a small chuckle as he closed the door behind them, "How's it going, Murdock?"

"Oh everything's going fine," Murdock answered, "How's everything going _out there_?"

"Everybody's having the time of their lives, just wait until we actually get to the Christmas party."

"Oh by the way, Hannibal," Murdock turned to him and said, "I wanted to ask you about something. Now maybe it's nothing but if it isn't nothing I thought maybe you should know."

"Know about what?" Hannibal asked.

"The other night I cleaned out the fireplace and I was looking for the trash can, and I found something in the ashes."

"What was it, Captain?" Hannibal asked.

"A few pieces of paper somebody tried to burn, not much of them left, but put together, they looked kind of suspicious."

"Where are they?" Hannibal asked him.

"Up in my room," Murdock answered.

While Murdock started on the dinner preparations, Hannibal went up to the room Murdock had been occupying the night before and found the charred bits of paper on a table by the pilot's bed. He examined them for his own self and moved them around and tried to figure out what order they had been in when they were whole. After a while he started to see something in the mess that helped him realize what Murdock was hinting at. These were the remains of some kind of records. But too much was gone for Hannibal to make out what it was. He wondered…they'd gone over the whole house, down on the first floor there was a room that they'd easily figured out was General Bullen's office, but since he was gone, and it wasn't a very likely candidate to convert into a makeshift bedroom, Hannibal hadn't paid much attention to it. But now he was starting to wonder if there were anymore records down there where these had come from? And he decided that he would go check it out.

* * *

><p>Murdock had enlisted the help of his fellow V.A. patients to help out in the kitchen as dinner was being prepared and Face was surprised to find that in comparison to the pilot, they all seemed to be fairly 'all there' and quite 'normal', even almost downright boring by comparison. He was sorely tempted to ask which <em>part<em> of the hospital they came from but he was afraid he already knew the answer, so he chose not to ask and instead helped them get the food ready.

"You know, Murdock," he said as they were getting the meat on the grill, "I'm with Hannibal and all for giving these guys a good Christmas, but what happens the day after? You know?"

"Hannibal's got a plan for that too," Murdock told him, "He said that uh…tonight, B.A. and I are on gift-wrapping duty, and you and he are gonna call some people."

"Huh? What?" Face asked, "Wha…call who? …and _why_ is he trusting B.A. to wrap breakables? For that matter, why's he trusting _you_ with them?"

Murdock ignored that comment and said, "I think the Colonel's planning on calling up some old clients and seeing if they have any openings at their establishments. It would give these guys work and help them land on their feet again."

"They're all small businesses, Murdock," Face felt a need to remind him.

Murdock responded with, "Small, but honest and friendly, _and_ paying, which is more than what they're currently looking at."

"True, still, do you think it's going to work?"

"Only one way to find out," Murdock said.

"But do you have any idea how many clients we have in _this_ country alone that we'd be calling?" Face asked.

Murdock nodded and told him, "Hannibal said we're likely _all_ going to be at it all night."

"All ni…oh boy," Face huffed.

Something else occurred to the pilot, and he turned to Face and said, "By the way, didn't Hannibal say something about you was supposed to bring a reel of film with you?"

"Oh yeah," Face sounded even less enthusiastic, "Go digging through all the old archive vaults of every TV production ever made going back to the 1950s, because he wants to show everybody a film, what film? A Christmas Carol, the 1951 version with Alastair Sim? Nooooo, the 1938 one with Gene and June Lockhart? Nooooo…the 1935 one with Seymour Hicks? No! Instead he _insists_ I find the surviving film of a TV version made in the 1950s starring Basil Rathbone as the ghost of Jacob Marley, and Fredric March as Scrooge, and _why_ he insisted on seeing this version, I have no idea, what I _do_ know is I just about went crazy trying to find it, and I think he's _crazy_ for making me look for it in the first place."

"Should be interesting," was all Murdock had to say.

"I wouldn't put much faith in that," Face said, "It's a musical, how great can they be?"

Murdock just clicked his tongue and told the conman, "I find your lack of artistic appreciation disturbing, Faceman."

Murdock turned and looked toward the front yard and his breath caught in his throat.

"Oh my God."

"What is it?" Face asked as he turned around too.

"It's Doctor Richter," Murdock said.

Face saw a man walking up the driveway towards them. He turned to Murdock, "Your doctor?"

Murdock nodded. "What's he doing here?"

"_How_ did he get here?" Face wanted to know.

The two Team members walked down to meet the doctor halfway. Murdock tried to play it cool.

"Doctor Richter," he said, "What brings you here?"

The doctor just looked at his patient and said in a largely unreadable, but faintly disappointed tone, "Murdock, why did you do it?"

"Uh, why'd I do what?" Murdock asked.

"You were the one who sneaked everyone out," Doctor Richter said, "Jerry, Mike, Robert, Daniel, Justin…"

Face turned to Murdock and said, "You broke them all out? And you didn't tell _me_?"

"Faceman, it was the greatest thing you ever saw," Murdock said, "The biggest V.A. breakout ever."

"But I _didn't_ see it!" Face told him, "How'd you do it?" But even more so, he turned to the doctor and asked him, "_How_ did you find us here?"

"It wasn't hard once I started asking people around the hospital if anybody had seen which way a large unmarked blue bus went this morning," Doctor Richter explained.

"The whole point of an unmarked bus is you're not supposed to notice it!" Murdock whined.

"Doctor Richter," Face went up to the man, "My name is Templeton Peck and I…"

The doctor eyed him up and down and noted, "You look familiar…"

"Yeah, well," Face said, "If you'll just come inside, I'm sure we can get this whole thing settled…you see there's a perfectly good reason why everything's going on."

"_If_ that is true, Mr. Peck, I look _very_ forward to hearing what it is," the doctor told him.

"Right…" in this very instant, for the life of him Face couldn't figure out what it was Murdock liked so much about this doctor, "Well you see…"

He escorted Doctor Richter to the door and they went inside, straight into pandemonium as the kids came running through the hallway chasing each other, and whichever doorway they walked through they collided with 10 other people and had to push their way past them. Finally they got into the kitchen that was virtually empty, save Amy and the other hospital patients, and Face figured this would be a good place to talk.

"You see, Doctor," Face started to say, "What's going on here is…"

The kitchen door opened again and Hannibal stepped in and said to the Lieutenant, "Face, I need you to come with me, I need you to put your lock-picking skills to some use for me."

"Uh Hannibal," Face said, "This is Doctor Richter, Murdock's doctor from the V.A."

Hannibal turned to the man and briefly said, "How do you do?", and without waiting for a response, told Face again, "Come with me, I need you to crack open a box for me."

"Hannibal," Face grabbed him by the sleeve of his jacket to get his attention, "Doctor Richter came out here to find out why Murdock sneaked some of the patients out of the hospital today without notice."

Hannibal turned to the doctor and with almost no readable expression on his face whatsoever, said simply, "He's your patient, why does he do _anything_ that he does?"

"It's to my understanding that you're his colonel from the war," Doctor Richter said, "Of whom he still speaks so highly in his rare, uninterrupted moments of coherency, I should think you'd be able to answer the same question."

"Okay," Hannibal said, "He brought them here because I asked him to."

"Why would you do that?" Doctor Richter asked.

"What's the matter, Doc?" Hannibal asked, "You got a problem with having a little Christmas party for the lesser fortunate?"

"A…Christmas party?" the doctor did a double take.

"That's right," Hannibal said, "That's what's going on here."

"Doctor Richter," Murdock thought of something, "Why don't you call up your daughter and invite her for the party too?"

"Murdock, I have no daughter."

"Why don't you call your wife and invite her?" Face suggested.

"I have no wife either," Richter explained.

"Boy aren't you the stubborn one?" Face asked.

"Amy!" Hannibal called to the reporter, "Fix Doctor Richter a drink, preferably something strong enough that tomorrow he won't remember today. Face, come with me, I need your help."

"I'm _coming_, Hannibal," Face said as he followed Hannibal out of the room, "What's going on?"

* * *

><p>"Three lock boxes locked away in the desk, and nothing," Face said, "This General certainly is a weird one, isn't he?"<p>

Hannibal wasn't satisfied. He paced around the room and told Face, "_Something_ was here, _something_ was in those boxes…something he didn't want anyone else finding."

"And it all went up in the fireplace," Face guessed.

"Leaving _any_ trace of the records was a careless move," Hannibal said, "It's clearly something he doesn't want people to find out, he wouldn't risk anything being retrieved…he didn't burn it himself, he must've had one of the servants do it for him after he left."

Hannibal paced back and forth again, and stopped this time, and his eye caught something across the room. Face looked too and saw what it was Hannibal was staring at, a paper shredder. In two quick steps he was across the room and saw that there was still shredded paper in it.

"He's definitely hiding _something_, most people don't have one of these because they don't have anything worth cutting up," Hannibal said.

"Hannibal," Face said, "Even if there's _anything_ there…do you have any idea how long it'll take to put it back together?"

Hannibal looked up at his Lieutenant and replied, "I have patience, I have time…"

"Yeah, a couple days," Face said, "And how about all those phone calls we were going to make tonight?"

"We're going to make them," Hannibal said, "And I'm going to find out what this guy's hiding."

"If it was really that important, why wouldn't he have destroyed it himself instead of leaving it to the maid?" Face asked.

"Just because he's a general doesn't mean he's smart," Hannibal told him.

"Well, that's true," Face replied.

"Let's go help Murdock explain this situation to Doctor Richter," Hannibal said, "And then get dinner, _then_ we're going to help the kids get the tree ready, and _then_ tonight everybody's on the graveyard shift, B.A. and Murdock are going to finish wrapping the toys for the kids and we…"

"Yeah I know, we're gonna play code-crackers," Face said as he picked up a handful of the shredded paper.

"_And_ telephone tag," Hannibal added, "Don't forget that."

"Oh, I _wish_," Face replied cynically.


	8. Chapter 8

With a little help from Hannibal, Murdock was able to explain the current situation to Doctor Richter, who decided _not_ to blow the whistle on Murdock _provided_ he had all the patients back at the V.A. the day after Christmas. Just because they were making progress in their recovery didn't mean they were fully rehabilitated for the outside world again, Murdock fully understood. He also asked again that the doctor stay for the party, but Richter declined and left before dinner.

After dinner, Hannibal and Murdock supervised the kids decorating the tree in the living room, and there was plenty to do. They went through about 800 lights, then about 500 feet of garland, then once that was done they strung up about 200 ornaments and 10 candy canes, the rest Hannibal noted had mysteriously 'disappeared' somewhere. Finally after every single ornament found a place to hang, and the whole thing was coated in five boxes of icicle tinsel, Hannibal took the large colorful star, got on a ladder, put it on top of the tree, and plugged it in with the lights so that it shone brightly and helped light up the whole room, which left everyone in awe.

"You know," Hannibal said to the children as he climbed down from the ladder, "I don't think Santa Claus could find a better looking tree to put presents under when he comes tomorrow night."

One of the little girls tugged on his jacket and he hunched down to speak with her.

"Yes?"

The girl looked at him with skeptical eyes and asked, "Is Santa Claus really real?"

"He will definitely be here tomorrow night, sweetie, I can guarantee you that," Hannibal said, and stood up at his full height again, "I know that a lot of you have been cheated in recent Christmases, and it's not fair, but even a man who can travel the whole world in one night needs help making sure nobody's missed, and since more children come into the world all the time, he has a hard time keeping up. But don't you worry, we put in a special request for an appearance by him and I happen to know he's not going to disappoint any of you tomorrow night. I even requested that he come when you're all still awake so you'll be able to see him for yourselves."

This little bulletin got several of the kids excited. Face couldn't help feeling his heart melt as he looked at them all, knowing that they needed so much, and their families needed so much help, and just hoping that they'd be able to provide it all for them by the time everybody cleared out of the house after the holiday.

Once the tree was done and everybody was settled down, Face and Hannibal went to work setting up a film projector and screen and Face put on the old TV "Christmas Carol" for everybody. For the A-Team it was standing room only as not only were all the chairs and couches in the living room taken up, but most of the floor as well. So Face stood back and watched the unusual little spectacle, it was different…but, okay. Murdock couldn't resist joining in during the middle as the Ghost of Christmas Present danced with Scrooge around the room and sang, "A ve-er-er-eree! A Me-er-er-eree! A _very_, _Merry_, Christmas! A ve-er-er-eree! A Me-er-er-eree! A very, Merry, Christmas."

Boy Face was glad now that they all had different jobs to do all night, he'd gladly take being on the phone all night with people coast to coast than have to bunk with the pilot and try sleeping while hearing him bellow _that_ tune out all night.

When the movie was over, the parents in the house decided to get their kids ready for bed, and while Face tried explaining the sleeping arrangements as best as they had figured out, it was decided that all the kids could sleep together in the living room. They could fit a couple on the couch, and the rest on the floor on cots and in sleeping bags. Everybody seemed happy with this arrangement because until they actually _did_ fall asleep they could look at the Christmas tree, which Face had to admit _did_ look pretty amazing, and he guessed it _would_ be a comforting sight to fall asleep by. Once they were all settled down for the night, the adults retreated upstairs to figure out their own sleeping arrangements.

* * *

><p>"Okay, B.A. and Murdock are wrapping the toys for the kids," Hannibal told Face later that night after everyone else had gone to bed and it was just the four of them up, "And <em>we're<em> going to start making phone calls."

"Hannibal," Face said, "_Why_ did you trust those two to wrap the gifts?"

"Because B.A. likes kids and Murdock likes anything colorful, they'll get along perfectly for the job."

"Ironically." Face cleared his throat and said, "How many people do you think we're going to be able to get a hold of?"

"I don't know," Hannibal shook his head, "But there are _three_ lines on the general's phone, so I'll bring a second phone in here and we can cover twice as much ground that way."

"Oh joy," Face dryly remarked.

They started calling people at midnight. All different time zones taken into consideration, Face still couldn't believe they were calling up old clients in the middle of the night to inquire if they had any open positions their new friends could find work at. But they did, all night long the two men paced around the room holding the phone in one hand and the receiver at their ear.

"Hello Mr. Rodgers, this is Hannibal Smith, remember we're the people who almost got killed saving your daughter from Jamestown? Yeah, well, I have a favor to ask you..."

"Is this Tracy Richter? It is? Templeton Peck here, how've you been? How's New York? Well actually this isn't exactly a social call…"

"Joe Penhall? Hannibal Smith…yes I know what time it is and I appreciate you have to be up in a few hours, how're the watermelons?"

"Jackie, it's Templeton Peck, how's the only girl I was ever married to? Uh huh, yeah, I _know_ it was just business, and you have _no_ idea how thankful I am for that. Listen, since you've taken over your father's business…"

"Mr. Beller, Hannibal Smith, do you have any positions at your airline that _don't_ require flying experience? Thank you but no it's _not_ for me…no, I never took any official flying lessons either."

"Cal Freeman? Templeton Peck, how's Lone Star Taxi? Well since we _do_ own 10% of the business…are you in need of any additional drivers right now? How about an answering service?"

"Lin! Hannibal Smith here! Congratulations on getting your own restaurant open, how's business? Well that's fantastic, how's the help? Uh huh…would you be in need of any _more_ help?"

"Doug Mayer? Templeton Peck….by any chance would Shana be around? Oh well anyway, I've got a question for you…"

"Mr. Stern, Hannibal Smith, remember us? How's the construction company? Yeah, well, I wanted to ask you if you might have any open positions available…just anything, wouldn't have to be _on_ the scene putting up the buildings."

"Sun Yeng? Templeton Peck, how's Sam? That's great, we're fine…listen, I've got a question…."

"Hey Sandy, it's Hannibal, how's Florida? How's the hotel business? Uh huh…I have an unusual question for you…"

"…I see, well thanks for checking, and Merry Christmas."

"…I will look into it, thanks, and Merry Christmas."

"…Well, if anything does open up, let us know, thanks…oh by the way, Merry Christmas."

"…I appreciate it, thanks a lot, Merry Christmas!"

"…Uh huh, well, thanks anyway, Merry Christmas."

"…Thanks for your time, Merry Christmas."

"…That's terrific, Merry Christmas!"

* * *

><p>Four o' clock in the morning, Face was exhausted. He never would've guessed making a bunch of phone calls could be so exhausting.<p>

"So now what're we going to do?" he asked, "We couldn't find enough open positions for everybody and even if we could, are any of them actually going to be qualified?"

"Face," Hannibal responded from where he sat at a table piecing a shredded document back together strip by strip, "Contrary to popular belief, most folks who wind up in these people's conditions _don't_ wind up on the street because they're lazy and never did anything in their lives, very many of them were highly qualified for many years in jobs that simply aren't there anymore. And others just couldn't find any other open positions that were willing to take them. If we can't find something to match people up with, I'm sure we can talk our clients into giving them a little hands on training so they'll make the cut."

"And what about the rest?" Face asked, "Who do we decide gets which jobs?"

"Well once the holiday's over, we're going to get to know everybody more personally and find out what it is they used to do and then we'll figure out who's _most_ qualified for which jobs," Hannibal told him.

"And the others?" Face reiterated.

Hannibal got up from the table and headed over towards the door, "We'll figure something out for everybody, some might take longer than others but that's just the way it is sometimes." He opened the door and caught the outline of somebody out in the hall and he called out, "Who's out there?"

"Nobody you need to worry about, Mr. Smith."

"Hey Deakins," Hannibal greeted the older man who came into view, "What's up?"

"Just got up for a drink of water," he answered, "I got a tongue like leather." He looked at the two Green Berets questioningly and inquired, "What're _you_ two doing up?"

"No rest for the wicked," Hannibal chose for an answer.

Deakins laughed and told him, "I hear that…is there something I can help you with?"

"No thanks," Hannibal said, "We were just getting ready for bed ourselves."

Face let out a sound similar to one a starving man might make when presented with a prime rib dinner and said, "Bed, _that_ sounds _very_ nice." He fell down on the one in the room and closed his eyes and started humming a tune under his breath, then shot up when he realized he was humming 'A very, Merry, Christmas' from the film they saw that night, and he groaned. Now he was going to have that song stuck in his head all night and all the next day.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Hannibal put in an appearance at breakfast and even helped cook some of it, but once that was over he went right back to piecing together the shredded papers. He was getting closer to finding out what it was all about, and he knew it, and his patience, great though they were, were starting to wear thin because he was very anxious to figure out what this whole thing was about.<p>

Finally around noon, he got one whole sheet put together out of the whole mess, and he looked its contents over, and he felt like he'd read it wrong. So he read it again, and it said the same thing. This couldn't be right, and yet…he looked at it again, and the answer didn't change any. Hannibal felt numb, he felt like he was in a parallel universe, this couldn't be true, and yet he knew it was. It took him a few minutes to pull himself back together, and when he finally did, he headed to the door, went downstairs and got in the middle of the crowd that had gathered around for lunch, and he whistled and held his hands high in the air to get everybody's attention and he shouted at them, "EVERYBODY, I HAVE AN ANNOUNCEMENT!"

Everybody became eerily quiet and looked at him, and he turned one way and the other to address everybody as he said, "The rules of the house have just changed. Feel free to help yourself to anything in the back freezer and the pantry, it's _all_ on the house."

"Hannibal," Face said as he and B.A. and Murdock came over towards the Colonel, "Is everything alright?"

For a short and simple answer, Hannibal commented as he fell back into a chair at the table, "Yes, Lieutenant, everything's _fine_. Why?"

"Oh no reason," Face replied, "But what was all of that earlier about nobody touch the food, anything we eat we have to replace, remember all that?"

"I changed my mind, Face," Hannibal told him, "I changed my mind is all."

"How come?" B.A. asked.

Hannibal had an unnerving grin on his face as he simply said, "It's Christmas Eve, it's the _perfect_ time for people to change their minds."

"I think Hannibal's finally lost it," Face whispered to the two other men.

B.A. looked towards their leader and replied to the Lieutenant, "I don't think the man ever _had_ it."

"What do you think it's all about?" Face asked.

"Who cares?!" Murdock asked several decibels louder and turned to join the others in the kitchen, "Let's eat!"

"Yes," Hannibal said as he stood up, seeming to be almost in a trance, "Let's do that…let's eat, and we'll stick General Bullen for the bill. Yes sir, I think this is going to be a _very_ Merry Christmas after all."

* * *

><p>After lunch it was all downhill until the Christmas party, and all the kids knew it, and they were all ready to bounce off the walls. So, B.A. and Murdock took it upon themselves to find ways to keep the kids entertained until after dinner, which was still several hours away, and while they did that, Face and Hannibal made small talk with the adults to get a feel for what all these people to do and be before they wound up on the streets. True to Hannibal's word, <em>everybody<em> had a story, and some were very similar and others were very different.

And as far as work went, everybody had their own qualifications, and their own reasons why they were no longer _in_ those employments: from factory workers who were laid off and never brought back, or let go when the factories shut down; to mothers who couldn't go back to work waiting tables and had to go into hiding from their ex-husbands and wound up on the streets as a direct result of always having to run and hide; to the mothers who suddenly found themselves with 50% of their income with 100% of the bills to pay after their husbands walked out on them, or died, and they couldn't keep up the rent by themselves anymore; to soldiers who came back from 'Nam fully qualified as _soldiers_, qualified in warfare and operating Uncle Sam's war machines of destruction, but _not_ for civilian work, who never received the proper psychological help they needed dealing with their demons from the war; to even a former airline pilot who made nearly $90,000 a year, and couldn't go back to his job after a near-crash incident several years ago that left him too traumatized to even set foot back on a plane. Not lazy at all, just traumatized, laid off, forced in a corner, thrown away and forgotten.

After getting everybody's stories, Hannibal addressed their houseguests and told them all, "I haven't quite figured out all the details out yet, but after the holiday, we're going to help all of you guys get back on your feet."

There was a slow sound that went around the room, of surprise, disbelief, shock, awe, nobody could believe what they were hearing.

"I don't know what you can possibly do for us," Doris Healy, one of the younger mothers said, "But you don't know how much I appreciate it."

"Well as it turns out, we have a few friends we can call favors in with," Hannibal answered, "A lot of them own their own little businesses, a lot of them are in need of some new help, the pay isn't much, _yet_, but it'll be steady work and consistent pay, and they're great people to work for, and you can take it from me, we _know_."

"How can you do that?" Susan Sutter, one of the other mothers asked.

"Well you see folks," Hannibal addressed the crowd, "You didn't just get invited here by an _average_ bunch of crazy people…you see we're the A-Team."

Now the murmurs of shock and surprise were gradually getting louder as everybody looked around at one another and questioned if they'd heard right.

"Yes, that's correct," Hannibal told them, "The myth lives after all…"

"Funny, you don't _look_ like a bunch of dangerous criminals," Lily Thompson, the mother with one of the youngest children, still on her hip, noted.

Hannibal chuckled and replied, "Well you know what they say about looks aren't everything, even so, you're not wrong."

"Geez, Hannibal," Face murmured to the older man, "What'd you do that for?"

"Face, they were going to find out anyway," Hannibal told him, equally low so nobody else heard them, "Besides, they've been here long enough if any of them were going to turn us in, they would've done it before now."

"Oh yeah?" Face asked, "Have you seen the latest bounty on our heads?"

"That reminds me," Hannibal turned towards the younger man and told him, "That General's got a safe somewhere in this house, I'd stake my reputation on it."

"Can't you stake something of higher value?" Face asked sarcastically.

"I want you to help me find that safe and we're going to crack it," Hannibal told him.

The only thing Face could even think to ask in response was, "_WHY_?"

* * *

><p>If Face thought things were insane in the house, they weren't any better outside. <em>Outside<em> an MP car was slowly driving up the street when the driver was ordered to stop at the curb outside the General's house.

"What's the matter, Colonel?" Captain Crane asked as he hit the brake.

Decker pointed to the house, from which a lot of noise was emanating, and told his captain, "That's General Bullen's house, and I happen to know that the General is out of the country till the beginning of the next year."

Crane looked at the house and guessed, "Maybe he's letting some friends use it while he's gone?"

Decker caught sight of something and pointed towards the driveway where Crane also saw a black and red van and the Colonel responded, "Oh yeah? You still think so?"

Crane looked towards Decker and asked, "_What_ would the A-Team be doing here?"

"That's what we're going to find out," Decker told him.

Crane reached for the radio but Decker told him, "No MPs, we're going to look into this matter ourselves, there're only three of them, _we_ can take them."

Famous last words. The two men got out of the car and went up to the house where they could hear Christmas music leaking out, and _just_ as Decker opened the door, he was just about run down by half a dozen children running past and all of them blowing toy horns and banging toy drums. The colonel and the captain looked to each other, then charged into the house and found themselves in the midst of about 50 people.

"What the hell is going on here?" Decker wanted to know as he pushed past some of them.

"Hannibal, look!" Face pointed.

"Oh great, an uninvited guest," Hannibal noted.

"That's fine, the more the merrier," Murdock said, and moved over towards the other colonel.

"Murdock get back here!" Hannibal told him.

But Murdock had his mind made up. He marched over towards Decker, singing in a very deep voice, "A ve-he-her-her-ee! A me-her-her-her-ee! A _ver-y_, Merr-y, Christmas!" And out of nowhere, he lunged at Decker and grabbed the man by the arms and used enough force and momentum and oomph to literally lift the colonel off his feet and swing him around, as he repeated, ", "A ve-he-her-her-ee! A me-her-her-her-ee! A _ver-y_, Merr-y, Christmas!" and repeating his fine trick, swung Decker around again and threw him _right_ into the corner of the living room by the fireplace.

"Cut! Cut! Cut! That was all wrong!" Murdock switched into director mode as he marched over towards Decker and said, "We need to do that take again, and we need to get the special effects department on this fireplace, I want blue blazes that reach clear up to the chimney, and _then_ we throw you _in_ it!"

Well the cat was out of the bag now, so Hannibal, Face and B.A. joined Murdock in the living room to greet their new guest.

"Merry Christmas, Decker, what brings you here?" Hannibal asked smugly.

Decker got back to his feet and regained his bearings, and when he could only see _one_ of Hannibal, he took two steps towards the other colonel and said, "I've got you now, Smith."

"Do you?" Hannibal asked, "I think we've got _you_."

Shaking off his lightheadedness from hitting the wall, Decker demanded to know, "What in the hell is going on here?"

"A Christmas party," Face answered, "What's the matter, Decker, didn't you ever have them when you were a kid?"

"He was never a kid," Hannibal said, and pointing a finger at Decker he told his men, "This is a leftover from the meat rations."

It was at this time that Crane managed to push past all the other people and come on the scene as well.

"Oh look, we got another one," Hannibal noted, and he strongly advised the captain, "I wouldn't do anything stupid if I were you, for the simple matter of we outnumber you 2-1, and even if you would happen to overpower us, _you_ would _still_ be outnumbered, except this time it would be about 25-1, you want to press your luck?"

Instead of answering, Crane demanded to know, "What're you doing here? This is General Bullen's house."

"No kidding," Face replied, feigning disappointment, "I thought _this_ was Madonna's summer rental."

"Smith," Decker faced Hannibal and told him, "You've got a hell of a lot of explaining to do."

Hannibal only replied, "Not nearly as much as your precious general does."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Decker asked.

"It means," Hannibal answered, "That General Bullen has been dipping his fingers into the funds that are supposed to keep the greater California V.A. hospitals up and running in some semblance of 'working order', and _that's_ why they're now falling apart on the patients living there," he pulled out of his jacket the paper that he'd managed to piece and then tape back together for the colonel to see, and while Decker's eyeballs skimmed over it, Hannibal pointed out, "That's how he's paid for this house, that's how an Army General, with no wife, no kids and no friends, could even _dream_ of affording a 25 bedroom, 5 bath house with a pantry loaded with $5,000 worth of caviar. Didn't you ever wonder _how_ he was able to afford all this?"

"And I'll just bet you that's also how he funded his little trip to Hawaii for the holidays too," Face said.

"Colonel?" Crane looked to Decker, to see if he believed this.

"Where'd you get this?" Decker asked.

"Out of his document shredder in his office," Hannibal said, "That _after_ we found the remains of another one in the fireplace that he'd burnt up."

Decker _hadn't_ sustained a headache when he was thrown against the wall, but he had one _now_, and now he needed to sit down.


	9. Chapter 9

"So you see, Decker," Hannibal finished explaining things to the other colonel, "Our only crime here is trespassing. Since most of the misappropriated funds for the V.A. have already been spent, there wasn't much we could do, except bring everybody _to_ the house, feed them the General's food, let them use his hot water, his beds, so that by some stretch of the imagination, that money can still go towards the use it was supposed to have in the first place. When Bullen comes back from Waikiki, he'll find his icebox broken into, whatever money he has laying around here gone, but that'll be the bulk of it. You know as well as I do that there's damn little we can do with corrupt generals because we're in no position to personally do anything with them ourselves, and we can't turn them over to any higher authority that would believe us for two seconds. All we can do is hit him where it's clearly going to hurt and that's his wallet."

Decker had agreed to sit down and be quiet and patiently listen while Hannibal explained their side of what was going on, and now that Hannibal had had his say, Decker got up and responded, "Smith, I think this is _the_ most insane stunt you've ever pulled, and I'm counting the time you posed as a World War One veteran and locked me and Crane in that upstairs room at the movie theater."

"Thank you," Hannibal grinned, "I'm quite proud of that one still myself. Look Decker, you and I, we can continue our race to the death _after_ the holidays, just us, no innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire, nobody winding up hurt because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Smith…" it was becoming obvious Decker didn't quite know _how_ to handle this situation, and Hannibal decided to use it to his advantage.

"You should know your warfare history, even World War I took a Christmas off, remember, Decker? You're old enough, you practically could've been there yourself."

"Very funny," Decker dryly remarked, still he thought about it and he shook his head and said, "It _kills_ me to do this."

"If only that were true," Hannibal chuckled.

"Alright, Smith, you've got a deal," Decker told him, "I don't rightly agree with what you're doing but I agree even less with the fat cat generals skimming money for our walking wounded to further their own luxuries."

"Thank you, Decker, I appreciate it."

Decker pointed a finger at him and warned him, "But if you ever breathe one word of this to anybody, I'm going to hunt you down and gut you like a fish."

"I wouldn't expect any different from you, Roderick," Hannibal told him, "If word got out you actually had a heart, you'd be ruined."

Decker scowled at him.

"Come on," Hannibal nodded towards the door that would take them out of the general's office and back out into the crowd, "Let's go join the party."

Decker followed Hannibal out of the room and said to the other colonel, "There's just one more thing I want you to try and explain. What in the hell is Murdock doing here?"

"Murdock?" Hannibal repeated, "Well that's simple, Decker, he's here as a guest too, you see we took the liberty of liberating he and a few of his friends from the psychiatric ward out for the party, and just as well. When we came back from 'Nam, we made sure he was put in the best V.A. hospital in the state, and even _it_ too has started to fall victim to Bullen's scale tipping."

"You really expect me to believe that?" Decker asked.

"Well it's certainly true and I can prove it," Hannibal looked out into the crowd and called out, "Murdock!"

The pilot worked his way through the chains of guests and said, "Yeah Hannibal?"

"Murdock, where're the other men from the hospital?" Hannibal asked.

"In the kitchen," Murdock said.

"Who all came with you for the party?" Hannibal asked him.

Murdock counted on his fingers, "Mike Sampson, sergeant in the Army till he was shipped home in 1971, nervous breakdown, Jerry Bateman, lieutenant till he was sent home for medical reasons in 1970, primarily stepping on a spiked coke-can that thankfully the grenade did _not_ detonate upon the removal of his foot from the spike. Robert Mitchell, 'nother sergeant, 'nother nervous breakdown, 1972, same time as me, Daniel Watkins, sent back from 'Nam in 1968 courtesy of a souvenir booby trap, luckily his leg sustained little permanent damage, after that there's Justin Bell."

"Any relation to Leo Bell?" Hannibal asked, "Guy who could shove whole jars of peanut butter in his mouth?"

"Don't think so, Hannibal, this guy has enough trouble swallowing soup," Murdock replied.

"Go get them, let them all come say hi to Decker," Hannibal said.

"Hannibal, ain't they been tortured enough?" Murdock asked.

"Point taken, but do it anyway."

Murdock shrugged his shoulders, disappeared into the kitchen and came back a minute later with over a dozen men varying from their late 20s to their early 40s, one by one they all came up and shook hands with Decker, except one who insisted on standing on his head to say hello to the colonel, though every single one had some little quirk to them that made Decker generally uncomfortable.

"Okay," Decker turned to Hannibal and told him, "I believe you." Breaking _one_ crazy person out might make sense if Murdock was truly involved with the A-Team's missions, but there wasn't any way in his mind he could justify breaking out _this_ many mental patients if it wasn't legitimate.

"Well if you still wouldn't have," Hannibal replied, "You could always call the doctor who okayed their release for the party. You see Decker, _these_ are the men who have no homes and no families to come see them for Christmas, _or_ to check them out for the holiday. So we couldn't see anything wrong with taking them out for a couple days and giving them a nice time before they go right back to the hospital they've come to know as their home for more than the last decade."

"I hate to admit it but I suppose you have a point," Decker said to Hannibal.

"So," Face said as he and B.A. warily came up to them, "We okay here?"

"I think everything's fine, Lieutenant," Hannibal answered, "I don't think our old 'friend' here's gonna blow the whistle on us…" he turned back towards the colonel and asked, "_Will_ you, Decker?"

Decker's only answer was, "You get everybody out of here the day after tomorrow," he shook his head, "I never saw a thing."

"Well that's great!" Murdock said as he came up to them, and he asked Decker, "Why don't you invite your wife over to join the party?"

Decker turned to the captain uncertainly and answered _very_ certainly, "I don't _have_ a wife."

"How 'bout your kids then?" Murdock asked.

Decker replied even _more_ certainly, "I have _no_ kids."

"And we know you don't have any friends either," Hannibal pointed out, "At any other time of the year that's just status quo, but at this time of the year that's just sad. Oh well, consider yourself invited anyway. The party will be starting soon, in the meantime we're getting the food and the drinks ready for everyone."

A light bulb must've gone off over Decker's head, he looked to Hannibal and said, "As long as everything of value in this place is already being used up in the general's absence, why don't we take advantage of the situation and crack open the good liquor as well?"

Hannibal grinned and responded, "You know, Decker, I think there could be hope for you yet." He nodded his head towards the back and said, "Come on, let's go see what's left in the larder. When Bullen comes back he's not going to have _any_ idea what went on here."

Face waited until the two colonels were out of the room and he asked B.A. and Murdock, "Am I the only one who's just a little disturbed by Hannibal suddenly getting so chummy with Decker?"

"Man's on the jazz, that's all there is to it," B.A. said.

"Oh I don't know about that," Murdock spoke up, "I think he's just fully getting into the Christmas spirit…Decker of course needs a little more work in that regard but…who knows? Maybe there's hope for the man yet."

"That's a pretty tall order, Murdock," Face said.

"Well," the pilot replied, "This _is_ the season of miracles after all."

* * *

><p>A couple hours later after everybody had dinner, the party was started, and Murdock slipped out of the room long enough to put on his Santa Claus suit and he slipped back down to the first floor without anyone noticing, and entered the living room carrying a large sack on his back.<p>

"Ho-ho-ho! Me-her-her-ry Christmas!" he addressed the children, and as they all gathered around him in surprise and awe, he explained, "Hope nobody minds, I decided to save myself the trouble and just come in the front door this time."

If one Santa Claus at the party thrilled the kids, it was anybody's guess what two did, but at that very moment, _another_ Santa entered the room, this one with a much larger build, a much gruffer 'ho-ho-ho', and who seemed to stand a head over the first Santa, and who had a notably darker complexion under his snowy white beard.

"B.A.?" Murdock whispered.

The second Santa Claus's response was to stomp on his foot and grumble under his breath, "Quiet you crazy fool..."

"Oh well," Murdock groaned as he curled his toes on that foot, "Guess two Santa Clauses are better than one."

By now the kids were doubly excited, only then for things to take another turn as a _third_ Santa Claus entered the room, this one who actually seemed to look the part, not too big, but not very skinny either like the first Santa, who had a very deep throated, genuine sounding 'ho-ho-ho, Merry Christmas!', but what made this one really stick out was where the first two Santas wore white gloves, this one wore very familiar black gloves.

"Oh well," Murdock said under his breath, "Guess 3 Santas is better than 2."

The kids certainly seemed to think so, except by now they really didn't know what to think or which Santa to go to first. The third Santa looked at the other two and said skeptically, "Hmmm, looks like the whole Kringle family turned out for this party."

Apparently so, because at _that_ time, a fourth Santa entered the room, this one looking much like the third one, except maybe a bit more genuine in some regard that wasn't there with any of the others. And at this one, the first three Santas looked to one another to try and figure out who this one was.

"You don't think…" Murdock started to ask.

But, without even finishing his question, they all realized no it wasn't, because at that time, Face entered the living room from the kitchen, and he seemed equally puzzled by the 4 Santas as the first 3 of them did. And seeing him standing separate from the 4th Santa made the other 3 look to each other again, trying once again to figure out who it could possibly be. While they tried to figure it out, the 4th Santa went up to all the children and he addressed them all by their first names as he set his bag down and reached in and took out a present for all of them.

"You don't _think_…" Murdock decided to try again.

Hannibal just shrugged and replied, "On Christmas Eve? Who knows? It could very well be."

"But that's not possible," B.A. said.

"Well," the 3rd Santa said, "Who else could know all the kids?" Then he remembered Deakins, and looking around the room he couldn't see that old man anywhere. He backed out of the room and looked through everybody present for the party and didn't spot Deakins anywhere, and then…

"Is something wrong, Santa?"

Hannibal looked up and saw Deakins coming down the stairs.

"Well if you're _here_," Hannibal said, "Who's that man in the next room?"

"What man?" Deakins asked.

"There's somebody here dressed as Santa Claus who's not _us_," Hannibal told him.

Deakins considered it for a moment and said, "Maybe it's the _real_…"

"Yeah I know, I already considered that possibility," Hannibal said, "Hey, aren't you going to join the party?"

"I was just on my way," the older man replied as he came down the stairs.

The two men rejoined the others in the living room and joined a circle of adults in awe who watched as all their kids received presents from the mysterious Santa, and as far as toys went, they all seemed to get exactly what they wanted.

"I hope that everybody here gets exactly what they want for Christmas," the mysterious Santa told everybody, and addressing the kids he explained, "It pains me so to find at any time that I've missed anyone on my list, so I often have to rely on help from people closer to the source to pick up where I inevitably slack, unfortunately sometimes that doesn't always work either. So this year I decided to first visit all those who I've unfortunately missed in past years, I know the other children will understand, the ones that for whatever reason have always been fortunate enough to never be missed on the list." He looked to the other 3 Santas and added, "And what _very_ fortunate children you all are tonight, to receive a visit from not _one_ Santa Claus, but from four of them, it's only the _most_ special children so lucky to have _such_ a Christmas Eve visit."

Hannibal didn't have any idea who it was behind that white beard and red suit, but he had the fullest confidence that this man could do justice to the real McCoy quite easily. Gradually as the kids opened all their presents from the 4th Santa, the other 3 got to step up and offer their own presents, and as they did, the 4th Santa picked up his sack and headed for the door, but before he reached it, he turned around and came back.

"I nearly forgot, silly me," he said, and addressing the adults this time he said, "I know the traditional rule is that Santa only gives to the children, but this is one time he's making an exception." And he reached into his sack again and this time took out large handfuls of money and tossed it in the air, sending dollar bills flying everywhere. And _now_, everybody was especially shocked and at a loss for words or even explanation. The Santa continued to reach into his bag and pull out money and toss it in the air, and after the initial shock wore off, the adults started to collect it. Face bent over to pick one up just to see what it was this guy was throwing around, and he was surprised to see that it was a $100 bill. He looked at some of the others that had landed on the floor and hadn't been snatched up and saw it was $100s and $50s and $20s.

"A very Merry Christmas to _all_ of you," the mysterious figure said as he made the last batch of money airborne and tied his bag shut again and this time headed out the door.

"After him!" Hannibal said as they charged for the door, "Let's find out where he goes."

It took five seconds for the Team to reach the door and rush out onto the porch and down the steps, and somehow in that five seconds, their mysterious visitor had completely disappeared. There was no sign of him anywhere, no vehicle anywhere for him to get away in, nor any sound from one that was just leaving, and they couldn't even find any footprints in the dirt of the yard.

"Where'd he go?" Face asked.

"He's gone!" B.A. said as he pulled off his Santa beard, "Man just…"

"Disappeared!" Murdock realized.

"How's that possible?" Face asked.

Hannibal removed his own beard and hat and turned to his Lieutenant and assuming a somewhat straight face, asked him, "What's the matter, Face? Don't you believe in Santa Claus?"

"No," Face answered.

"Don't seem to matter," Murdock said, "He sure seems to believe in everyone else."

"Hey," B.A. thought of something, "Where'd he get the money?"

One light bulb went off and was divided between four heads.

"Back inside," Hannibal told them, "We're going to take the house apart."

So, back inside they went, and they took the unoccupied rooms one by one and searched them all, and finally in the master bedroom, they found what they were looking for, a previously concealed wall safe, now plain in the open for everyone to see, as it stood wide open, and the inside as vacant as the general's own heart itself.

"I _knew_ there was a safe around here somewhere," Hannibal said, "But we never had time to look for it."

"Somebody not only looked for it, they _found_ it," Face said, "However much money _was_ there is gone now."

"Well what do you know?" Hannibal folded his arms and looked very amused, "Guess even ol' Santa's got a touch of Robin Hood in him. Always knew there was something about that guy I liked."

"Hey," Face said, "How much money do you think he gave them?"

* * *

><p>Everybody who had collected some of the money had been hesitant to put it down, actually let go of it for fear it would disappear, but Hannibal and Face had convinced everybody to put it on the table long enough for them to count out the full amount. Some of them had to have it all but pried out of their fingers for the count, but after a few minutes, both Face and Hannibal reached the concluded amount at $30,000. Not enough for anybody to do very much with given it would have to all be divided up amongst 50 or so people, <em>but<em>, it would be enough to at least let them make first month's rent on a new place to stay, get some food for them and their kids, spent wisely it would be enough for everybody to do _something_ with in making the first and hardest step towards getting them and their children off the streets.

"I can't believe it," Doris looked about ready to faint, "I just can't believe it!"

"I'm having trouble believing it myself," Face told her.

"Who _was_ that man?" Susan asked.

"Santa Claus," was Hannibal's answer, very deadpanned and straight faced.

"I guess so," she replied, "I'm with Doris, I can't believe it!"

Decker scratched his head and skeptically asked Hannibal, "That another one of your doings, Smith?"

"If it was," Hannibal replied, "I would've done it myself. Besides, how could he disappear before we even got out the door?"

"You don't _really_ believe…"

"Decker," Hannibal turned to the colonel, "Right about now I'm not too sure _what_ I believe."

"Well then…" Decker looked around the room and responded, "I guess that makes two of us."

Hannibal looked at him and said confidentially, "But the part I can't help wondering…what're the odds this general would _only_ keep $30,000 in his home safe?"

Decker looked at him curiously but didn't respond to the question.

"Somehow I get the feeling this fellow's work has truly just begun," Hannibal told him.

As the night wore on, Face seated himself at the piano in the dining room and after testing the keys to make sure they were still in tune, tickled the ivories to a few Christmas tunes, which quickly got everybody joining in to supply the vocals, suddenly everybody was now _especially_ full of the Christmas spirit. Even the kids, who refused to let go of their new toys for anything the same way their parents had to practically be forced to let go of the money to count, joined them in the dining room and though it became most crowded, everybody gathered around close and joined in the caroling. When that ended, everybody helped themselves to the food that had been set out, and the adults helped themselves to the rum punch Murdock had concocted and to both Hannibal and Face's surprise, it was actually good, while the kids drank themselves full of a more kid friendly punch that had been laid out for them consisting of frozen grape juice, lemon-lime soda and sliced oranges.

"What's the matter, Murdock?" Hannibal asked, noticing the disappointed expression on the pilot's face as he tasted his own punch, "It seems fine to me."

"Yes…" Murdock had to admit that much, "It's just that it occurred to me, I must've gotten it mixed up…it was _gin_ punch Grandma always made, _not_ rum."

"Oh well," Hannibal shrugged, "Write it off as a delicious accident, you can always make the gin punch tomorrow."

"Hannibal," Face thought of something, "Exactly _how_ are we going to get the _rest_ of the presents in here for the kids when they're sleeping by the tree tonight?"

"Don't worry, Face, I have a plan, as usual," Hannibal told him.

"God help us everyone then," Face replied.

Hannibal glared at him through one eye and eventually decided, "Oh well, it's Christmas, I'll let him get away with that."

* * *

><p>The next morning when everybody got up, the kids were thrilled to discover that another batch of presents awaited them out in the hall. Today was the busiest day for the kitchen because both ovens were put to work cooking turkey and ham for everyone for the big dinner, and in addition to that there was plenty of stuffing and sweet potatoes and everything else traditional to be prepared.<p>

"Well I'd say this Christmas has been a large success," Face said around noon as they took a break from the cooking to eat.

"You don't know the half of it," Hannibal told him, and addressing everybody in the room he explained, "It seems that friend of ours from last night has been _quite_ busy. I got off the phone with Doctor Richter and he told me that somebody left an anonymous package at the V.A. last night…$50,000 so they can get their repairs made. He'd been in contact with colleagues at some of the other local V.A. hospitals, who all received rather large anonymous cash donations sometime during the night." He looked to Decker, who had stepped into the room long enough to hear the conversation, and said to him, "I _told_ you Bullen had more money socked away than just what was given out last night. And our friend in the red suit seems to have been busy at work making sure the rest of it went where it was originally _supposed_ to go in the first place."

"Well, looks like this is going to be a merry Christmas for everybody," Murdock said.

"I'd say so," Hannibal agreed, "But especially for all those people out there. For the first time in months or years, everything's finally coming together for them."

"It certainly is," Deakins said as he entered the kitchen, "I'm sorry, I couldn't help overhearing."

"What's up, Lloyd?" Hannibal asked.

Deakins handed him the share of the money that he'd been given last night, "Mr. Smith, I really _can't_ accept this."

"Why not?" Hannibal wanted to know.

"Because I don't deserve it," Deakins told him, "It gives me no pleasure to admit that I've still been lying to you."

"What about?" Hannibal asked suspiciously.

"Well…about most everything," Deakins told him, and to further explain himself, he grabbed at his face and pulled off latex extensions, removing his well-worn features, and peeling back his whitening hair and revealing a full head of dark underneath.

"You see, Mr. Smith, my name is not really Lloyd Deakins, it's Mike Nixon."

"The millionaire?" Face asked with a long and surprised face, "I've heard about you from some of my associates, you're…"

"About 20 years too young to be Lloyd Deakins is what," the man explained, "You see, Mr. Smith, I'm afraid I've been giving you a dose of your own medicine, like most of the people out there, I've too heard the stories about the A-Team, about your loyalty tests for clients to determine who is sincere and who is not."

"I don't get the gag," Hannibal said.

"Well it's no gag really, you see you stumbled upon the wrong person at the wrong time," Nixon explained, "My father was a World War One veteran and I know firsthand the cold treatment his generation received once they left the battlefield. So when I started to become a success in my business, I decided I was going to put my money to use where it was most needed, naturally the veterans and the homeless came to mind first, but there was still the question of who would be sincere and who would take the money and run, be it the individuals themselves _or_ the organizations that are supposed to aid them?"

"I follow you so far," Hannibal said.

"Well I decided I would live among them for a while and find out who was who, and who would benefit most," Nixon told him, "That's what I was doing with these people when you came up to us and told us about this party. I _did_ want to find out if _you_ were being sincere, so that's why I came, and when I found out you were, I _did_ intend to leave, but when you wouldn't let me, I decided to stick this out and find out how far your own sincerity went. And I'm very pleased with what I saw. You and your friends are truly one of a kind, it mattered not that we were dirty and poor and on the street, it didn't matter who or what anybody was, _even_ a prideful and shamed liar and coward…you still took all of us in, gave us a place to stay, a place to get clean, get warm, get something to eat, to feel _human_ again, and to top it all off, you were willing to help everyone here find employment to get them back on their feet. I've seen more charity in you and your friends in the last 48 hours than I have in many of those aid organizations in years. I think you have a very good idea, but I have one of my own I'd like to interject."

"We're listening," Hannibal replied.

"You were willing to find jobs for everybody, no matter how long it took for some, and whoever our friend was last night, he gave everybody enough money they could get a couple months' rent to stay someplace…well, I'd like to help make things easier on them, so I'm going to take a cue from you."

"Oh?" Hannibal asked.

"You see," Nixon explained, "Even though you didn't live here, you were willing to do all the work, get everything cleaned up and ready, cook all the food, see to everybody's needs…well, my own home is a 20 bedroom brownstone in itself…I'm going to invite everybody here to stay until they get enough money stored up that they can afford places of their own and not _have_ to worry if they come up short in a month. The ones that you can find jobs for in this area will clearly fair the best in that regard, but I'm sure between the two of us, we can find enough open employment positions for the rest that they too can build up some savings before taking your promised jobs across the country, and in the meantime they'll have a place to stay rent-free while they get their lives back in working order. I've lived among these people, _as_ one of these people for two months, Mr. Smith, it's a _very_ eye opening experience of what all we take for granted and how easily so many of them could be helped but sadly aren't. And _if_ this plan gets off the ground and works, when everybody here has spread out with their own jobs and their own homes, then I'll return to the streets and find others to bring back to my home. You see, I too have no wife or kids, why then such a big house? Well, in the beginning it was little more than just a chance to say 'I could, I have that kind of money now', but I firmly believe now it can be put to very good use."

"You're a good man, Nixon," Hannibal said with a large smile on his face.

"Boy there's a sentence I bet nobody thought they'd ever hear," Face murmured to himself.

"You're also one hell of an actor, you had us all convinced," Hannibal added.

"Naturally, I had to be in order to be accepted by the others as one of them," Mike said with a small sad smile, "It wasn't hard, if you'd seen my father during the last years of his life, it wouldn't take much for you to learn it either."

"So when're you going to break the good news to everybody?" Face asked.

"It's Christmas," Nixon said, "I think they've had all the miracles for one day that they can take in…tomorrow when everybody's getting ready to leave I'll explain it to them."

"Think they'll forgive you for tricking them?" Hannibal asked.

The younger man looked at Hannibal and said to him, "You know, somehow, I don't think they'll mind it too much when the truth comes out."

Hannibal just chuckled in response.

One by one everybody else left the kitchen and just left the two colonels to talk amongst themselves.

"Well," Hannibal told Decker, "One more day, 24 little hours, then we'll all be getting out of here, these people will start to really get their lives back, and then you can resume chasing us around the city to your little black heart's content. Of course none of this has convinced you one iota that we really are innocent, that would just make too much sense, wouldn't it? Also take into consideration, the man who put you _on_ our case is this same General that would steal money from his own people, the wounded soldiers, to finance his own extravagant lifestyle."

"I don't like it anymore than you do, Smith," Decker said.

"But politics are politics, right?" Hannibal asked.

Decker snorted and remarked, "Something like that."

"Like I said, Decker," Hannibal said, "There's nothing we can do to this guy to do justice to the people he's screwed…meaning you're _still_ going to be taking orders from him, the very same man. How does that grab you?"

Decker wasn't quick to answer, he still seemed to be thinking about it himself.

"I don't care what you do believe about us, Decker, we did _not_ rob that bank."

"That really isn't the point, you _did_ break out of the stockade," Decker told him.

"Wouldn't you?" Hannibal retuned, "Look Decker, we don't have to like each other, we don't have to get along whatsoever, but can you really live with yourself knowing what kind of man you're taking orders from when you chase after us all the time?"

Again, Decker didn't answer. Then he said to Hannibal, "Just because I've got to try and catch you, doesn't mean the next time we won't mysteriously lose track of you somewhere between the two points."

Hannibal smiled and replied, "Welcome to the dark side, Decker," and chuckled, to the other colonel's chagrin.

"Yes sir," Hannibal continued, "Bullen's going to have a fine mess trying to figure out who was responsible for all this when he gets back, especially given his security system's been out of order this whole time. And first thing tomorrow we're calling in a cleaning service so by the time they finish, he won't be able to find a _gnat's_ fingerprints, let alone ours."

Out in the dining room they heard music playing again and went to see what it was. Murdock had all the kids gathered around by the piano and they all were singing:

"Christmas comes but once a year,

Now it's here, now it's here,

Bringing lots of joy and cheer,

Tra-la-la-la-la!"

"Amen to that," Hannibal said.

A/N: I cut it close, but I got done in time for Christmas after all, I hope everybody enjoyed it. Second A/M: The song lyrics at the end are from the title cartoon, "Christmas Comes but Once a Year" from 1936. Merry Christmas everybody!


End file.
